New Lives
by thesedreamsgoon
Summary: The Mystic Falls gang is exhausted, the Originals have decamped to New Orleans, Katherine Pierce is wreaking havoc and Silas is wandering around freely. Decisions are going to be made and actions taken that will lead these characters on new paths and make them realise the people they want to be. Klaroline. Kalijah. Delena. Beremy.
1. Chapter 1

A/N- This story runs concurrently with my other story New Path's you don't have to read both of them but it will flesh out the story a bit more. This first chapter is dedicated to the reviewers of my other story who complained about the lack of Klaroline. I literally wrote this first chapter for you.  
Ships- Klaus/Caroline. Damon/Elena. Bonnie/Jeremy. Katherine/Elijah  
Disclaimer- I own nothing

* * *

Caroline's POV

My cheek still tingles from Klaus' kiss. His lips were gentle but dry, I guess millennia old hybrids don't use Chapstick, he made me blush but at the same time left me wondering why he didn't aim for my mouth.

Maybe he figured that he'd stretched his luck with me already?

Still, it's a month later and I'm lying in my bed three hours after my alarm went off staring at the ceiling and trying to recall the dream I had last night that was a blur of hummingbird tattoos, blonde hair and woke me up breathless and wet with desire.

My fingers and vibrator were a poor substitute and left me feeling apathetic towards the world at large.

God if Klaus knew I was getting off with just the memory of a chaste kiss and the one time I saw him half-naked and half out of his mind with hallucinations and fear, he would be back from New Orleans and demanding I shift over to make room in my bed faster than I could blink.

Or maybe I'd get that first class ticket to NOLA after all, it'd be easier for me to give in if I didn't have to worry about my mom coming home and seeing a damn good reason to shoot kneeling between her daughter's thighs.

I groan and dig my palms into my eyes. I wouldn't be thinking these things if I could just freaking find Tyler- I know the minute he comes back I'll be the perfect girlfriend and former Miss Mystic Falls, I'll host a bajillion Founding Family events, I'll finish cataloguing all the colleges in Virginia and my friends and I can finally choose we're we'll be going in the fall.

My life would be so much more productive if I could dig myself out of this imaginary rut.

My phone rings for the third time in an hour and I recall that I'm meant to be meeting with three different student presidents right now. All women, thanks to my female empowerment program at Mystic High. I'd promised to tutor them over the summer, to explain the ins and outs of dances, rallies, charity drives and club meetings. It seemed once I'd graduated that the school administration realised that I'd essentially been running the extra-curricular activities from the moment I'd set foot in the halls and that there was no-one half as qualified or motivated to take over from me.

Hence the reason I had written a how-to guide and was spending a perfectly beautiful summer day ignoring the fact that I was two hours late for coffee at the Grill with April and two shy nobodies who could barely string a coherent sentence in my presence.

Maybe I should compel some confidence into them.

The next time my phone rings I switch it off and roll out of bed, deciding on a long shower before even beginning to plan my day.

* * *

I find it pathetic that when I do finally set foot in the Mystic Grill its one in the afternoon and the girls are still waiting for me. April Young seems pissed off enough to want to call me out on my behaviour but when I throw her a pointed look she huffs and backs off.

Shame, I could have used a Queen Bee smack down.

Unlike the rest of the town however, April Young is clued in on the supernatural happenings and is aware enough of the situation to understand why figuring out the perfect colour scheme for the welcome back dance isn't high on my to-do list.

I hand over the manual, issue a half-hearted good luck and after a token tequila shot I'm out of the bar so fast I nearly collide with Mayor Hopkins. I widen my eyes dramatically,

"Oops sorry" I chirp in my most innocent tone, and high tail it out of there before he stops me to chat. The very morning after we'd stuck Silas in the quarry that man threw vervain into the Salvatore well and suggested to my mother that as Jeremy was legally dead, it wouldn't be murder to euthanize him.

Jeremy and I had to lock Damon and Elena in the basement cell for a week before we could trust them not to kill Bonnie's father. Thankfully, in a rare show of solidarity, my mother locked Hopkins in the cell below the police station and kept him there until the vervain was out of his system.

After that, we held a month long campaign to compel every citizen in Mystic Falls to forget that Jeremy had died.

Katherine Pierce was surprisingly helpful, giving us pointers and explaining how she'd tried and tested her own town-wide compulsion. Of course once we made it clear that not one vampire in this town was giving her a single drop of blood she told us where to go, keyed Damon's Camaro and broke into the Gilbert lake house for a mini vacation.

I pull into the driveway of the Salvatore boarding house just as Jeremy is getting out of Elena's car. After Katherine had lured a bus full of college footballers to the lake house it had required an epic clean-up which Jeremy had volunteered for. This had set off alarm bells for all of us-usually we leave any required house cleaning/body moving to Damon's undiagnosed ocd but he claimed he needed a break from Elena's new relationship.

I don't blame him. I understood completely.

We walk into the parlour to find Damon sitting on the couch with Elena's head in his lap, he's playing with her hair while he reads to her, and she's stretched across the seat with her eyes staring through the large window to the beautiful summer day outside. They both look up at us when we enter and the mood is so peaceful and loving I feel sinful just for interrupting, it also brings home the fact that I am utterly alone right now. Tyler and I would never read aloud to one another, I'm usually so busy with all my activities that it takes me about three months to finish an Austen novel and Tyler isn't what you'd call a deep reader, he barely read the required literature during school.

Klaus would probably read to me, or he'd take me to galleries and explain the different schools of art to me. Considering he lived for eight hundred years before film he's probably read every European classic there is, I'd have to make an effort to be intellectually curious if I was with him.

But I'm not so it doesn't matter.

Elena pulls herself into a sitting position but doesn't move away from Damon, I'm standing in the doorway waiting for his customary rude greeting but they're both so relaxed that it's taking him time to put on his mask,

"Vampire Barbie" he eventually drawls, "Found your lost dog yet?"

There we go. I roll my eyes, "Nope but maybe Elena can check the local pound for me when she finally comes to her senses and returns you"

Elena rolls her eyes but doesn't bother telling us off, after all when Damon and I are around others or not planning for our continued survival this is our primary form of communication. I don't care how happy he and my best friend are together, he was an asshole of a boyfriend. Klaus would have disembowelled him if he'd found out how badly I'd been treated when the Salvatore's first rolled into town.

I flop down on the couch opposite them as Jeremy makes his way to the kitchen, I sigh and brace myself

"Have either of you heard from Stefan at all?"

* * *

Instant mood killer, Damon and Elena immediately shift away from each other with their faces displaying guilt and dread that Stefan will suddenly walk in the front door and catch his brother and ex-girlfriend showing off their love for one either.

At this point I'm kind of hoping for Murphy's Law to kick in just so he'll come home. I haven't heard a word from him for two months now and considering I'm his sober sponsor, I'm worried he's on a Ripper Bender.

He nearly went off the rails when he found out Elena and Damon had slept together once, I can't even imagine what he should be feeling now that she's supposedly 'chosen' him and they're sleeping together every single night.

"I haven't heard from him" Damon tells me, getting up to pour himself a drink, "Pretty sure he ditched his phone but for us, no contact only becomes worrying after…oh forty years"

Nice try but I'm not buying it. Damon and Stefan may have been estranged for most of the twentieth century but after a year together in Mystic Falls Stefan admitted to me that he'd got used to having his big brother in his life again, even when they were fighting- which was at least once a week- they still texted one another.

And Elena's not that good an actress, she looks suitably worried at Damon's day drinking and upset about Stefan's prolonged absence, but to be fair she nearly cried when Matt left for Europe, these last two years have left her with a separation anxiety and abandonment issues that we should really be encouraging her to see a counsellor for.

I write that down on my mental to-do list, promptly forget about it and move on to our next concern, "What about Bonnie? Has anyone heard from her?"

Jeremy comes out of the kitchen with a hamburger I know he didn't make himself, it contains fresh vegetables and an expensive meat that has my fangs tickling my gums as the scent wafts over to me. At least living at the Salvatore boarding house has improved the Gilbert diet, despite being orphaned Elena never really learnt how to cook anything and I'm pretty sure Damon was their one source of nutritious meals long before they moved in.

"She rang me this morning" he announces, trying to look casual as he heads over to the wet bar but getting pushed away by Damon,

"Not a chance in hell baby Gilbert" he hisses and Jeremy continues talking,

"She said her mom has found a coven in New York that might be able to do a detox without figuring out that she was practising expression. She's completely burnt out though"

My shoulders sink, "No chance of a location spell then?"

He looks apologetic, "I asked and she told me she's struggling to light a candle without using expression"

Great.

Then again, at least she's speaking to me…or not ignoring me or hating me or something. When she disappeared so quickly after graduation and didn't respond to any of my calls, texts or emails I was terrified that she'd seen Klaus kissing me and was busy wishing I was dead. But she didn't reply to anything Elena sent her either and nobody is capable of hating Elena Gilbert, we forgive that girl no matter what.

Hence the reason I am sitting across from her two months after she went on a bitch bender, threatened to kill my mother and entered an actual relationship with my abusive ex.

Another issue for another day.

Elena reaches across and squeezes my hand, "Your mom hasn't come up with any leads?"

No but considering that Tyler was fleeing from a millennia old hybrid with immeasurable power and not partying with him up and down the eastern seaboard, she's just not getting the same easy clues she got when she was looking for Stefan.

I refrain from saying this out loud. I'm not Elena, I don't score the same orphan-amnesty privileges.

I shake my head and suddenly my exhaustion hits me. I make half-hearted plans to go shopping with Elena in Richmond tomorrow when Damon goes to pick up his beloved car. I make sure I'm out the door before I allow myself to smirk, Katherine may have been a bitch to damage Damon's Camaro but I'm a little pissed I didn't think of it back when I was newly turned and still struggling with all of my compelled memories returning.

I climb into my car and have a sudden flashback to the night Silas appeared to me as Klaus and lured me into the forest. I know now it wasn't really him but still…if I'd run that conversation past Klaus he would have reiterated every sentiment and…

I lean my head against the steering wheel and breathe through the flush in my cheeks and the images of my 'perfect feathers' being ruffled by the suave, romantic vampire.

I can forget to renew my licence, do the grocery shopping, wash my clothes and meet my mom for her birthday dinner but I can't forget how his blue eyes burned when they looked at me.

Perhaps Abby can refer me to a witch for an amnesia spell.

I'm not Elena.

My friends would never forgive me for this.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N- Hello my lovelies, this chapter is blatantly delena, as always any reviews are welcome, even the ones cursing me to damnation.

* * *

Elena's POV

I'm lying on the front lawn of the Salvatore Boarding house, in a new red bikini that Caroline and I found during our shopping spree in Richmond earlier today. Damon was waiting outside the store but when I held it up through the window he had it in hand and was handing his credit card over to the sales girl before I could even blink. It's a size too small but that just made my boyfriend even happier, I've just slipped it on and I already know that it's gonna get me laid.

Although that's not an award winning feat, waking up in the morning and saying 'hi' gets me laid, giving Damon a certain look before I get in the shower gets me laid, running the bath gets me laid, bending over to unload the dishwasher…

I'm beginning to see a pattern here.

I'm also getting aroused.

I lift my head towards the garage where Damon is cursing every man in the automobile industry since its inception under his breath. When he finally got his car back the men fixing the damage had painted and polished over the marks but hadn't polished the rest of the vehicle and I'd seen Damon flexing his fingers before we'd even left the store.

Even before I entered this relationship with Damon I would have been able to guess the effect that the uneven polish had on him. I'd 'suddenly remembered' that I'd promised to watch a movie with Jeremy this afternoon and called an end to the day out. I'd expected Caroline to call me out on it and accuse me of blowing her off to have a nooner with Damon but she'd only shrugged and followed me back to the car, her head whipping around as she checked out the face of every dark haired guy in the crowd.

My heart broke for her.

Because she was also checking out the blonde men as well and didn't even seem to realise.

She's been miserable this entire summer and I'm out of ideas to cheer her up. At first Damon suggested she and I go on a post-graduation road trip, take a car and drive west. At the end of this week he offered to send us to Europe, seeing how Caroline's depression was hurting me but I keep turning him down.

Caroline would hate it if Tyler came back to Mystic Falls and she was a several days car ride away from him and every bit of Europe would remind her of Klaus.

Thinking about my best friend suffering temporarily kills my mood for sex and I flop back down onto my beach towel as Damon comes out of the garage with polish in hand and calling for my little brother.

I smirk and remain silent. He can shout as loud as he wants but Jeremy's learnt good and well by now how to recognise when Damon's calling him to work and he'll be feigning sleep, sticking his headphones on or sneaking out into the forest just in case my boyfriend decides to go looking for him.

Damon's love for me and the fact that Jeremy and I have crawled under his protective wing means that not only does he care for us both but he considers it his responsibility to ensure Jeremy is prepared for whatever happens to us at the end of the summer.

That means teaching us to understand utility bills, fuse boxes and what to do when the funny red light comes on in our cars (check the water level) When he was our age he was working with his father's overseer to learn how to manage the plantation and lumberyard and then he was fighting in the Civil War.

Jeremy and I may be orphans but there's always been someone there to look after us, someone to ensure we don't have to be completely independent. That person is now Damon, he gives up after yelling Jeremy's name a second time and starts polishing his car.

I make sure Damon can't tell I'm smiling and check my phone when it starts beeping. My calendar alert is telling me that it's time to call Elijah.

When I first called Elijah it was to tell him everything that happened during Graduation but I'd chickened out and instead we'd discussed everything but the fact that I'd turned Katherine human. After a month I figured he must have found out some other way but the second time I worked up the nerve to call him he didn't mention it and I'm pretty sure he would say something to me if he did know.

Two months, four phone conversations later and I've been dreading my call to Elijah for a fortnight now, but I've put off telling him long enough and Damon's right, if Katherine works up the nerve to break the news to him she'll put her own spin on the story and if I suddenly stop calling him he might get concerned and come see why. I really don't want to risk being in the same state as him when he finds out Katherine is human. I have no idea how he'll take the news but I'd rather be a safe distance away just in case.

I look down at the supplies I brought outside for my afternoon sunbake; sunglasses, ipod and the list Caroline wrote for me at the beginning of summer, stating all the positives of Katherine becoming human again. It's the methodical neatness that was Caroline's trademark before she burnt out and had her first relaxing summer since she first realised that there was no age restriction on the numerous charity and event boards in Mystic Falls. The town's social butterflies might be having a collective nervous breakdown about the lack of picnics and dances to attend but I'm not calling Caroline out on her behaviour until autumn. After all, she's not the only member in our gang that can use the rest. Stefan probably hasn't called us because he's curled up in a bed somewhere having the first decent sleep since he arrived in Mystic Falls.

A girl can dream.

Damon doesn't stop polishing the car while I'm on the phone, he knows better than to be jealous over my friendship with Elijah but he does keep an ear on our conversation and he drops all pretence of not eavesdropping when I hear the screech of tires on the other end and grab the list like a lifeline talking quickly in the hope that Elijah will see reason before he decides to board a plane or make the fourteen hour drive to kill me.

But he doesn't do either of these things, instead he ends the call.

I tell him Katherine Pierce is human and he asks me to call back if she tries anything more evil than usual and hangs up on me.

What the hell is going on in New Orleans?

* * *

"Maybe it's the apocalypse" Damon suggests that night as I set the table for dinner. He's just finished teaching Jeremy how to grill steaks and the smell is making my mouth water as he finishes the salad. I roll my eyes at his suggestion,

"The Originals aren't Christians" I tell him, "If they saw four horsemen riding around town they'd probably eat them for dinner"

"Maybe it's their apocalypse" Jeremy jokes, chewing on a bread roll as he collapses into a chair beside me, scraping the antique furniture across the polished floor, I kick him under the table. Just because Damon and Stefan treat this place like a playground whenever they decide to throw down doesn't mean Jeremy and I can pretend that this furniture is Pottery Barn replaceable.

"What does happen during a Viking apocalypse anyway?" Damon asks as he serves us dinner, I shrug as I cut into my steak, "Elijah told me it was called Ragnarok but that's all he would say"

We drop the matter after that, instead we talk about taking Jeremy shopping for back to school supplies and whether I should talk to Caroline about college or wait until the last possible moment. When we exhaust these two topics and move into the parlour for after dinner drinks I recall my promise to Jeremy and tell Damon that the three of us should take a trip to the Grand Canyon. He rolls his eyes,

"You go back to school in a week little Gilbert" he points out as he hands me a cheap bourbon mixed with coke, he refuses to let me have the top shelf stuff if I'm going to pollute it with soft drink.

"That's plenty of time," Jeremy argues, sitting next to me as if he hopes proximity will render him special treatment "We could make it a short trip",

Damon scoffs and stands in front of the fireplace having an internal debate about the need for a fire. He built one every night when I slept in Stefan's room but that wing is naturally draughty, his wing keep the heat better but I'm a vampire now and he does a pretty good job of keeping me hot and bothered.

"Do well this term and I'll take you for a proper road trip and hike through the canyon" Damon suggests and I fight the urge to smile, he may make an effort to convince people that he doesn't give a damn but then he cooks healthy dinners for my brother and I know for a fact that he's already read Jeremy's curriculum.

At least one of us won't need compulsion to graduate.

With his plans thwarted Jeremy sculls his whisky, ignores my boyfriend's wince at the waste of decent liquor and gives me a half-hearted glare.

"That's your method for getting stuff from Damon?" he asks me incredulously and I roll my eyes, I don't need to seduce my boyfriend or have him inside me to get what I want from him, Damon would be hurt if I thought I had to. If I want something from him, I ask.

Granted it didn't pan out exactly as my little brother wanted it to, but he shouldn't have waited until the last week of school holidays to come up with the idea.

Jeremy heads off to his room and Damon is at my side the second we hear his door close.

* * *

I put my drink on the coffee table and swing my leg over his lap to straddle him, he gives me his lazy lopsided grin and I can't resist smiling down at his gorgeous face. I lower my body until it's pressed completely against his and I kiss him deeply. He groans and places his hands on my hips, squeezing gently, I shake my head slightly, held in place by our lips and place my hands over his own guiding them down to my bare thighs he gets the message and his hands immediately disappear under the fabric of my short dress. I moan when one palm plays with the elastic of my underwear and the other sneaks its way up to my left breast, fondling it teasingly while I rub myself against his denim clad lap. We break the kiss for unnecessary air and I kiss my way down to his neck, nipping playfully before I graze my fangs against his skin,

"Yes" he gasps, pulling me closer and pushing my panties aside as I bite into his flesh and begin drinking from his neck. The rush of blood consumes me and between drinking Damon's essence and his fingers stroking my already aroused body I have to fight not to lose myself completely.

He has no qualms about making me orgasm without seeking any pleasure for himself. I have issue with it though, he shouldn't worship me so devoutly, not when I don't deserve it.

He might have forgiven me for everything I said and did during my switched off phase but my heart breaks when I think of all the cruel things I said to him.

His hand pushes my panties as far down as they can go in my position and I take the opportunity to spin around on his lap and stretch against him as I slide them off. He buries his face in my hair, breathing against the back of my neck and rubbing himself against the back of my thighs, I moan and turn my head so we can kiss and roll my hips with his movements, he growls as his erection strains against his jeans and he begins pulling impatiently at my dress. I move to help him with the buttons, Damon is completely untrustworthy with clothes when he's aroused and I might not give a damn now but I know I'll be annoyed later when I find my dress and underwear ripped to shreds.

Before I forget my purpose entirely I end the kiss with a smirk and slide from his lap to kneel on the floor, he watches me through eyes heavy with desire, I reach for the zip on his jeans and out of habit or chivalry or some foolishness he reaches out to stop me. I throw him an exasperated glance but otherwise ignore his concern that I haven't taken my pleasure first.

I release his erection and stroke it lovingly with my hand, I know he'll give me a multitude of orgasms later, but this is my time to treasure him.

I wrap my hands around his back and lure him forward so I can kiss him with my lips, he murmurs my name and runs his hand through my hair as I run my tongue around the head of his penis and ease him deeper into my mouth. He always tries to come quickly when I go down on him, but I've had an entire summer to learn how to pull him back or send him over the edge when I want to. I raise my eyes to meet his and reach behind me to unclasp my bra, letting it fall to the floor and leaving me completely naked before him. His eyes devour my breasts and I playfully slap his hands away when he reaches for them. This moment is about him.  
He warns me when his getting close to orgasm but I roll my eyes and take him deeper, humming gently and holding him so he can't push away. He really needs to learn to be more selfish during sex.

I swallow as his ejaculation and he whispers my name like a prayer, I climb back onto his lap and then lie down across the couch, spread before him with my hands above my head and my body open to him. His hands cup my face with shameless reverence and slide down my body, stroking my breasts and then caressing my stomach and the curls at the juncture of my thighs,

"Mine" he murmurs as he bends to suckle my breasts.

His.

His lover. His friend. His vampire progeny.

He'll never admit it but I know that a part of him relishes the fact that it was his blood that gave me my new life. He is my maker, my sire.

His fingers play with my labia, ensuring that I am aroused enough for him to slip inside and reach for my g-spot. He strokes me with a firm rhythm that I keep time with, thrusting myself against his hand as his thumb finds my clit. I throw my head back and growl his name through clenched teeth. He watches me with unbridled triumph. He knows as well as I do that this is everything and not nearly enough at the same time. My body knows what it wants, who it wants and even after a summer of satisfaction it refuses to be sated.

"Now" I tell him as he brings me closer to orgasm,

"Now what?" he teases, acting innocent as I lose myself and come apart under his touch, falling back on the couch, panting.

Silence has near reign over the world as I come down from the high and my breathing regulates.

It's a warm summer night but in the parlour every inch of my skin untouched by Damon feels cold and neglected. I pull myself up and cradle the back of his head to draw him in for a kiss. He cradles me against him but I push him away and tug on his shirt, raising my eyebrows meaningfully.

"Oh" he feigns realisation, "_That_ now!"

I swear to God I would kill this man if I didn't love him so much.

He releases me and slides off the couch, standing up to undress. He pulls that sexy eye manoeuvre that I've never seen anyone else pull off and takes his sweet time unbuttoning his shirt and unzipping his jeans that he somehow managed to get back on when I was distracted. How he has the attention span to play games when he's as aroused and as ready for sex as I am is beyond me, I can't focus on anything right now except opening my arms and spreading my legs to welcome him inside me. He kicks his jeans away and stands before me completely naked, he looks like an ancient god and I should really build him an altar and worship him daily but all I can think of right now is that I want sex and he's not racing into my embrace. He steps forward and I lift me legs to wrap around his waist, reaching up to him but he rocks back on his heels and pulls the eye manoeuvre again.

I let the-extremely frustrated- vampire in me take control, my eyes go dark and I bare my teeth at him. His own eyes darken in response and the black veins dance across his face, he flashes and I'm in his arms, my legs wrapped around his waist as he slides me down onto his penis. I throw my head back, uttering a strangled cry of satisfaction as he thrusts inside me, walking us to the nearest hard surface and pushing me against it.

When we climax our mouths are buried in each other's necks and we're drinking so deeply, so involved in our blood sharing we barely notice what our bodies are doing.

* * *

Eventually we move upstairs, gathering our clothes and flashing up in case Jeremy decides to leave his room. He rarely does after going to bed, there have been too many close calls for him to risk it. Of course he had suggested that Damon and I restrict our lovemaking to the bedroom but it's hard to consider that request reasonable when our desire demands instant gratification.

It is after midnight when my phone rings and even if Damon had been in bed with me I would have answered it. In our world, calls after midnight usually meant there was trouble coming or the trouble was over but there were bodies to be buried/thrown in the quarry.

Although if that were the case they'd be ringing Damon not me.

"Hello?" I answer and…The second the call ends I can't remember who I was speaking to, I crawl back into bed and pull back the sheets as Damon climbs in next to me, his hands immediately find my body and I roll over to surrender to him, "Who was it?" he asks as his hands kneed my breasts, "Um…"  
_  
'Elijah'_ a little voice whispers in the back of my head.

"Elijah" I tell him, "Katherine is planning on freeing Silas from the quarry"

He swears and buries his head in my neck, "No…we just got rid of Silas!"

I stroke his hair and rest his head on my breast, kissing him comfortingly,

"It's okay, Elijah's coming to Mystic Falls to deal with her"

It would be three days before I realised why I'd felt a thrill of fear and discomfort at these words.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N- if you're reading my other story, New Paths, then the next chapter will seem very familiar. However it is edited.

* * *

Elijah's POV

Even in death Katerina Petrova is astoundingly beautiful.

Were it not for the grey pallor of her skin and the bloodied heart lying beside her, she might even have been sleeping.

If only it hadn't been such an overcast day, with the autumn leaves having fallen on her body and the damp earth having smudged her clothes, it combined with the hole in her chest to ruin the tranquil image of a woman resting, waiting for her lover.

Even as I kneel beside her corpse I continue playing with the fantasy in my mind, trying to escape the reality before me, I pick up her manicured hand, the one that was stone cold and experiencing rigor mortis and kiss it gently. In an ideal world her eyes would open and she would smile warmly at me and then I would have her permission to embrace her and kiss her lovely lips.

This world has long since been several thousand miles short of good, let alone ideal so when I sit back against the tree and cradle her in my arms her head falls over my elbow and the blood that had begun to congeal in her throat slides out of her mouth.

I want to turn my face away in disgust but instead I force myself to wait until the last drop of blood trickles into the dirt before shifting her body so that her head rests against my chest. Her chocolate brown eyes have always captivated me but now they are unfocused and incapable of lighting up with warmth and happiness. I use my free hand to lower her eyelids and the cuff of my expensive sleeve to wipe away the smear of blood on her cheek. The blood immediately stains my linen and the scent of her decaying form will permeate and ruin my suit but still, this is the very least I could do.

After all, I am the one that killed Katerina Petrova after she had committed the most selfless act of her life.

For the first time in one thousand years I find myself cursing my immortality.

* * *

News from Mystic Falls had been scarce over the summer. With Silas gone, Rebekkah somewhere in Europe and Niklaus caught up with our issues in New Orleans the town had been relatively trouble free.

Despite this, Elena Gilbert had been so kind as to continue our warm acquaintance; she rang me once a fortnight and we discussed our lives. She and Damon were enjoying their relationship doing all the things that couples in the twenty-first century supposedly do. I am no expert in this area but Rebekkah tells me that it means they dine at restaurants, watch films together and mark anniversaries. Bonnie is spending the summer out of town with her mother but Jeremy Gilbert is alive and quite well. Elena was even considering using her insurance funds to buy a house for her family when Caroline finally decrees which university she and her friends shall be attending.

Wherever she goes I will buy property for her there and offer it to her free of charge, I can even backdate the documents and have her believe that I have owned the land for years and have no further use for it. My actions might seem excessive for a man with no romantic designs but I have always held a soft spot for Elena, the sweet girl who has fought so valiantly against every threat thrown at her, all the while burying every family member she has until she is almost completely alone.

It is the very least I can do.

She calls me one morning as I am holding Marcel's daylight ring in my hands and trying to decide whether to burn the bodies of the Deveraux witches or to bury them in a mass grave. My little brother is in the hospital with Hayley and their newborn son.

Erik Mikaelson.

I saw him for a few minutes after the birth when Nik was holding his in his arms, completely bewildered with this new life before him. An absolutely beautiful child, unfortunately with his mother's colouring but as our family was a peculiar mixture of blondes and brunettes he still resembles an Original.

A perfectly healthy child and thus far one with no apparent supernatural qualities despite being the offspring of a hybrid and a werewolf.

I would have liked to spend the entire day staring at this miraculous creation but Niklaus reminded me that New Orleans still had to be conquered. Marcel was dead but the coven of witches had to be dealt with, and we had not yet had time to prepare a nursery for our newest family member.

I have always been happy to talk with Elena but I had rather more pressing issues on my mind than the romantic entanglements and societal wonderments of Mystic Falls.

When I answer her call I almost find myself divulging the news of Erik's birth, announcing that I am an uncle and telling her how he has a birthmark on his right shoulder and rolls of fat on his legs.

I stop myself in time.

Erik is someone I want to keep safe for as long as possible and if word got out that his mother had been held captive by a coven for nine months as guarantee  
Niklaus would jump at their every command, fools might get the impression that this is a tactic to play against my family.

I would rather prefer to limit the number of supernatural creatures that I have to decapitate and disembowel to ensure the safety of my kin.

Violence can be ever so vulgar.

"Elijah?"

Elena's voice is so timid and hesitant that I stop in my tracks and put my free hand in my pocket, wrapping my fingers around my car keys and calculating how quickly I can make it to Mystic Falls.

"Is something wrong?" I demand even as the darker part of me chuckles at the idiocy of that question. Mystic Falls attracts chaos like New Orleans attracts tourists.

Instead of the expected cry for help, I get a further minute of silence,

"Um...kinda?"

I start the engine and resist the urge to correct Elena's grammar, she usually makes the effort to speak properly around me just as Kol and Niklaus occasionally went to effort to resemble uneducated dockworkers in the hope of infuriating me.

"Is my presence required?" I ask without the least enthusiasm and I find myself already deciding whom I can send in my stead, perhaps Rebekkah could come back from Europe for the weekend? It would inconvenience her but seeing as she has been remarkably absent while her nephew's continued existence was in a constant state of flux I feel little guilt about imposing on her.

"No" she sighs and I know then that she is the only being on the other line. If she was with either of the Salvatore men they would be reminding her that it is rather rude to sound so relieved upon the realisation that you won't have to see the other converser in person anytime soon.

With that in mind I make a point to keep the relief out of my own voice, "How might I help?"

She takes a deep breath and I remember when she told me that my brother Finn had died. However she can't be bearing similar news, I'm down to two living family members as it is and neither of them is currently occupying Mystic Falls.

"So after graduation...you know once all the dead people went back to being dead..."

Yes I'd heard about that, Kol himself had returned from the Other side, he and Niklaus had spent a precious few hours together, he'd even rung me and I'd had the chance to talk with him once more, say goodbye to my little brother.

"Well" she clears her throat nervously, "I was looking for Jeremy or Bonnie and I kinda ran into Katherine..."

I pinch the bridge of my nose and exhale; the Other Side is populated with the supernatural beings whom have run into Katherine Pierce. She coined the term, 'Kill first and ask questions later'

"She...uh...she tried to kill me"

I admire the blasé way Elena Gilbert announces that there was yet another attempt on her life, although I suppose as a Mystic Falls resident this is a rather common occurrence, something to be considered as mundane as grocery shopping or paying taxes.

That's why I like being so powerful, when someone does make a serious effort to kill you it's a novelty and thus far, always unsuccessful.

"Well I am glad you survived the ordeal" I tell her, my words clipped, I'm rather pressed for time and not even Elena would be foolish enough to call me had she managed to kill Katherine.

The day she dies I'll burn the entire state of Virginia and everyone inside it to the ground and erect her tombstone out of the ashes.

"Elijah...she was choking me, I didn't have a choice..."

On second thought, perhaps Elena Gilbert is that stupid.

"Is she dead?" I ask simply, pulling my car into the street and driving from suburbia, I can be in Mystic Falls by midnight.

"No...but she is human, I shoved the cure into her mouth"

I take my foot off the gas pedal and cut across a few lanes to take the road that leads me back to the French Quarter.

It is taking every ounce of my strength not to take the highway that will lead me to Mystic Falls.

To Katerina.

Human Katerina.

The woman I fell in love with.

That I love still.

Elena seems to take mistake my stunned silence for extreme disapproval because she is frantically justifying her actions, listing in chronological order Katherine's crimes against her extended family and then alphabetically the benefits of her becoming human again.

Perhaps I was mistaken and Caroline Forbes is with her.

I resist the urge to remind her that Originals rarely express their disappointment silently-verbally, violently and frequently but never silently.

I interrupt her because this speech could take hours and I arrive at our family home to find several humans, decorators, electricians, applicants for the task of child minding waiting patiently outside.

"Elena I am glad to hear that you are safe and that Katerina is human, however I have several errands that I have to run. Please call me if she tries something more dangerous or life-threatening than usual"

Which I have to assume she will. Katherine shan't take being made human and vulnerable again well, in fact she probably already has a plan to wreak havoc under way.

* * *

It's not even seventy-two hours later that Stefan rings to tell me that Katherine plans to free Silas from his watery grave.

It's four in the afternoon and a summer storm is brewing outside, the wind and the rain having chased people from the street and with only the rare car passing by.

From the open window I can hear the restaurant below the mansion, the laughter of its patrons and the clatter of its dishes, I can smell the high quality ingredients that I'd ordered them to buy mixing with the smell of the rain. I'm standing in Erik's nursery watching him sleep, worried that the storm would frighten him. Hayley is watching a movie in the living room and Niklaus is in his art studio, both of them have their ears primed for the instant their child wakes but he continues to doze peacefully, his little heart beating slowly and his hands clenching habitually.

I take the call and try to understand Katherine's motives.

Everything that woman does serves her own interests, her primary motivator is survival this was why she came to me to negotiate the cure for her release from Klaus' hatred and enforced exile. This is why she loved both Salvatore brothers, to create enough gossip so that when the vampires were entombed she would be believed to be trapped with them. This is why she fled the night I poured my heart out to her and tricked Rosemarie and Trevor into making her a vampire.  
'Better you dead than I'

"Perhaps she intends to release Silas in the hopes he'll kill me" Niklaus suggests, leaning against the doorframe with the paintbrush still in his hand he crosses the room and braces his hands on the cot, looking down on his son, "After all she's human now, she'll survive the mass genocide my death will cause"

I accept that as a possibility even as my heart bleeds at the thought, I leave the room and go to my own to begin packing but I can't bring myself to focus on the mundane task.

"The cure is gone, Silas will be furious...but if he kills you and subsequently your entire line Bonnie Bennett will either raise the veil to resurrect every enemy he's ever made or ensure a way to kill and trap him on the Other Side"

Niklaus doesn't bother following me to my bedroom, we can speak well enough through the walls,

"Then perhaps you should ring and tell her that I granted her the freedom she's been after?"

I ignore that statement, even if I had the time to wrap my head around the opportunity I've waited five hundred years for, how does my brother expect me to convey this to Katherine over the phone?  
_  
'Yes my love you're completely free, no darling this isn't a trap we can finally be together...well yes in New Orleans that is where my newborn nephew is...why yes I am living in the same house as my brother, incidentally the man who butchered your family and whom has been terrorising you for half a millennia, how soon can you get here?'  
_  
"Even if she's out for vengeance" I continue theorising, "Killing you would kill Stefan Salvatore who she's readily admitted to having loved"

Nik scoffs and closes the window as Erik snuffles in his sleep, "Stefan's nothing but a mere shadow of you big brother"

I roll my eyes and decide not to bother packing, Rebekkah has yet to clear out her house in Mystic Falls and I left several suits there in case of emergencies so I grab my car keys and make my way downstairs just as Erik wakes and Hayley brushes past me,

"Good luck" she tells me with excessive nonchalance as she meets my brother in the hallway and takes their baby into his arms.  
They aren't even in love and they already have a more stable relationship than I have ever had with Katherine.

I'm close to hating her in that moment.

* * *

Katherine hid from my brother with relative success for five hundred years.

Nevertheless I am always able to find her.

Sometimes it took years, sometimes it took months, sometimes-like today- it took me twenty minutes and a perfectly drawn map with directions and helpful instructions.

Caroline Forbes had even been kind enough to staple an invitation to the Founding Family street party that was taking place at the end of the week if I chose to stay that long.

Her blasé attitude towards the execution of her enemies is so reminiscent of my brother I could have sworn I saw his smirk on her face when she handed me the paper.

"D'you want help taking her out?" she asks me as I take my leave, I frown at the question,

"Katerina is currently a vulnerable human, I am a millennia old Original I think I'll be able to handle her"

"Oh we're not worried about your ability to take her in a fair fight" Damon explains, coming down her hallway "We're worried that you're going to screw us over _again_"

I really do admire the vampires of Mystic Falls, they are the only coven in the entire world that would dare speak to any member of my family thus. Although they do speak the truth, my track record with them has been rather dishonourable.

Nevertheless, I have a better chance of reaching Katerina alone. She has a façade which she has perfected for her enemies but can never maintain around me, a few sweet gestures and she will explain everything to me in minute detail.

I find the dirt road that leads to the quarry and park my car, I was tailed by someone who didn't even try to hide their intentions so I'm not surprised when Stefan pulls up just as I step out into the warm summer air. I ignore him in the hopes that he won't follow me but there doesn't appear to be a single vampire in this small town capable of picking up on non-verbal commands.

I scowl as he falls into step beside me, "I thought I made my desire to be alone perfectly clear"

He frowns and feigns confusion, "I just got back into town, I saw you drive past and decided to follow you…what's up?"

"Katerina is human and trying to access Silas' tomb" I explain curtly as I lead the way to the quarry pushing a branch out of my way. Stefan laughs and the sound grates on my nerves, for some reason it raises the hairs on the back of my head and tells the darkness within me to divorce his spinal cord from his body

"And what plan does that crazy bitch have for us today?"

I glance at him over my shoulder but decide to let his sudden change in character slide, perhaps he's overplaying the enmity in the hope that I shall forget the numerous times he held Katherine in his naked arms and the fact that she professed her love for him.

He was Elena's first great love and killing him would hurt her.

The next branch that gets in my way is ripped clean from the tree and ground into splinters,

"Katherine Pierce is not insane, nor has she ever been" I tell him clearly, "Her actions, when considered in hindsight have always been perfectly rational and calculated to achieve her goals. She can be cold, cruel and impulsive but she has never been insane"

I hear the snap of a twig a mile ahead of me and rush into the clearing, reaching the cliff side just as Katerina drops the bolt cutter into the grass and pulls up her leg to unclasp her stilettoes, she stumbles when she sees me and drops the shoe, standing before me with one pale bare foot. I fantasize about cupping that delicate foot as I wrap her toned leg around my waist and then dispel the thought before I get distracted.

It doesn't help that she's staring at me with hope overwhelming the fear in her eyes,

"Elijah" she smiles and I nearly come undone,

"Katerina" her name rolls off my tongue but it always has. "I see becoming human again hasn't changed a thing"

There is confusion written over her beautiful features but she attempts to cover it up with dark humour, "Wait another ten years I'm sure we'll see some changes then"

She shrugs her shoulder and I want to capture her wrists in my hands and hold her against the nearest tree. My mind is awash with conflicting thoughts and I have to consciously remind myself of why I'm here, of what she has done.

"I was referring to your selfishness," I explain letting the disappointment seep into my tone,

"Your cruelty and determination to harm those around you. Katerina how could you even think of releasing Silas?"

"No" she argues, shaking her head and taking an unsteady step towards me "Elijah you don't understand…"

I want to listen to her, a part of me so desperately wants to believe the lies she'll tell me, to understand the reasons why she wants to destroy this town but the better part of me wants to hurry home to New Orleans to see Niklaus bathe his new born son.

"Enough" I shout, "Silas was a monster Katerina, one capable of killing us all, I do not care what the people of this town have done it does not merit such vengeance even from you" I flash to her side and pick up the bolt cutter glaring into her eyes as I straighten up,

"I am leaving now and I don't care how Stefan Salvatore chooses to exact his revenge, you will not approach Silas or this quarry ever again"

She flinches and her eyes water with unshed tears that I want to spill just so I can kiss them away, "Elijah please"

I turn and walk away, I am halfway down the path when she releases a strangled scream and I hear a sound that is all too familiar.

Even so, I don't flash back to the cliff, I walk slowly I take my time and with every single step I drown in the dark ocean of denial.

Perhaps I am mistaken, perhaps I misheard, perhaps I imagined the sound and when I re-emerge into the clearing Katerina will be standing there alone, sulking and plotting her next move, trying to determine whether seducing me will work but most assuredly alive.

I find myself praying to Freyja in my mind, already begging for her mercy because even in the midst of my denial some part of my mind acknowledges the truth.

So when I re-enter the clearing I'm not completely surprised to find Katerina lying prostrate on the ground.

* * *

Her heart is lying in the dirt next to her, my future murder victim was so crude as to rip it from her chest and tear into it with his teeth, ripping the tissue and draining the blood from the organ. I shift her on my lap so that I can reach down and pick it up, noting with distaste that dirt and grass has already become stuck to this precious piece of the woman I loved.

Although I doubt that her sudden departure from this world shall make me love her any less. I use my handkerchief to gently wipe the ironically broken organ as clean as possible. I stretch my legs out to make her comfortable in my embrace and my foot kicks the bolt cutter she'd brought with her. Its broken and I can see skin and blood on the head, she must have tried to use it to defend herself against…

"Wait" I murmur looking down at her peaceful face, stroking her brow with my thumb, giving voice to my thoughts to try and make sense of them as they swirled around my mind.

"You killed Marcel my love, you were completely human and you managed to kill a vampire roughly the same age as Stefan Salvatore…even with the element of surprise he shouldn't have been able…"

_"I just got back into town, I saw you drive past and decided to follow you…what's up?"_

Stefan had been the one to ring me and warn me that Katherine was planning on freeing Silas, yet only an hour ago he had claimed to have no knowledge of what was happening. Not only that, I'd felt anxious in his presence, not that I had recognised the emotion at the time, it had been so long since I had felt frightened for my wellbeing that I couldn't easily remember how my body reacted when it was threatened.

Why would I feel unsafe around a vampire that was nine hundred years younger than myself and weakened by animal blood?

The realisation hits me and I sigh as I lean down and kiss Katerina's cold lips,

"Oh my love, you weren't planning on freeing Silas were you?"

The Petrova's had been wealthy landowners in Bulgaria but when the Ottoman invasion drove them into the village Katerina had been born and raised a peasant, the local priest had taught her Latin and when her family had exiled her to a convent in England she'd learnt the English language but she'd never been formally educated.

What she had possessed however was an animal cunning and instinctive ability to read people.

She'd been the only one to realise that Silas was impersonating Stefan Salvatore and had tried to free him.

Katerina had tried to perform a selfless act and I'd let her be killed for it.

* * *

It's very clear that the last thing Elena Gilbert expected to see this morning was me walking through her front door carrying Katerina's dead body in my arms.

"Silas is alive" I tell her curtly, struggling with the rapidly hardening corpse.

She's dressed in a pink nightgown that matches her hair and can only stare at me as I move past her to the parlour. She hated her ancestor with a passion but still helps me lay her on the couch and offers me a drink from the bar,

"Katherine must have set him free" she decides, placing a scotch in my hand and patting it affectionately, upstairs I can hear the elder Salvatore climbing out of the shower and a few seconds later he's coming down the stairs wrapped only in a towel. He smirks when he sees his maker's corpse on the couch,

"Someone's been a good kitty" he drawls, clapping me on the back as he pads over to Elena's side, she glares at him and points to a pile of their clothes on the floor he raises an eyebrow and sits down on the couch,

"Silas is alive" I repeat for emphasis, Damon swallows nervously but then covers it up with his swagger,

"Tell me the psychotic bitch didn't fish him from the quarry?"

I narrow my eyes at him, "He was never in the quarry...Katerina didn't have time to reach it before she died but if her theory was true then he has been impersonating your younger brother for months"

"Stefan?!" Elena gasps horrified, she reaches over and grabs Damon's hand looking devastated, only a fraction less so than her lover who for an instant is the very epitome of grief before his face hardens.

"How do we know you aren't lying to us? Another Original magic trick designed to turn bunny rabbits into WMD's?"

I would be insulted but my family has a long history of deceiving the people of this town, lying or twisting the truth when it suits our purposes, blackmailing or outright violence when it doesn't.

"What reason could I possibly have to lie about Silas?" I ask spreading my hands addressing both of them but directing my tone towards Elena, she is my best acquaintance in this town and the moment I have her on my side the rest of the supernatural population will fall right in.

"I believe Katerina figured it out and went to the quarry to find proof or release Stefan...either way when the man I thought was your brother confronted her, he ripped her heart clean from her chest"

Damon looks almost relieved when I finish speaking, "That's your working theory? Katherine spent the entire summer trying to kill Elena I damn near took her out myself, clearly Stefan saw the opportunity and acted on it"

"Damon" Elena prompts in a quiet voice, "If Stefan was in town, don't you think he would be here, with _us_?"

Damon smirks, "No" he leans back on the couch and I move quickly lest I be granted an unseemly sight, he slings an arm about her shoulders and plays with her hair,

"Elena come on, you really think that Stefan would want to come home to the joy of us playing house together? He's probably holed up at Rick's place or one of the other dozen available hideouts in this deceptively small town"

I roll my eyes as it appears I misplaced my hopes, even now I can see Elena is eager to accept Damon's spin on the situation, she's ready to believe that Stefan Salvatore has abandoned his brother and former love because the other option terrifies her. Silas has cost her so much and she has only just started to rebuild her life after a year of chaos.

"What about Miss Forbes?" I ask beginning to become impatient. Niklaus loves that newborn vampire for a reason; she is a one woman army capable of anything, perhaps she will be of more use to me in this instance.

Elena misunderstands me and jumps to her feet, "Elijah's right, if Stefan is in town he'll have spoken to her. I'll call her now"

She runs from the room which is inadvisable in a nightgown as short as hers, I avert my eyes and listen as the elder Salvatore groans and rubs his forehead,

"Some days I just want to evacuate this town and blow it straight to hell" he announces dramatically, "A good clean carpet bombing until everything is a nice fine dust"

He looks across the coffee table at Katerina's corpse, "Did he keep the heart?"

I frown at the obscure question, "Pardon?"

"Silas, did he keep the heart?"

"No..."

In a ridiculously sentimental move I had reinserted Katerina's heart into its proper place. Without meaning to I'd cleaned and prepared the body for burial as best I could without anything on hand.

"But I think he drained it of blood" I add, knowing that this could be an important piece of information.

"Probably because the cure is in her veins" he theorises getting to his feet with a sigh,

"I'll round up the troops"

He strides out of the room just as Elena breezes back in ending her phone conversation,

"Caroline hasn't seen or spoken to Stefan for weeks" she tells me, seeming to confirm our suspicions. She then glances hesitantly at Katerina's body,

"Elijah...maybe we should put her in the fridge downstairs...or the morgue?"

Logically her suggestion is sensible; Katerina's corpse has a limited amount of time before it will start to noticeably decay, already the scent of death is beginning to emanate.

But the thought of wrapping her in a shroud and placing her in the cold darkness horrifies me.

Elena knows this; she herself had trouble accepting her brother's death. She offers me tea, wanting to play the good hostess but she hasn't had nearly enough experience at feigning normality and acting casual around butchered corpses. If need be I could read a book, have a conversation or host a dinner in a room newly decorated with severed limbs- in fact I have done all these things.

Still I'm not entirely sure which of us is the most uncomfortable right now.

I submit to her counsel and we descend to the basement where she gestures to the fridge they use to store their bagged blood.

"In here" she tells me, bending over the rim and indelicately shoving plastic bags aside and making the minimal space required. I don't say a single word but when she looks up at my face she pales,

"Um…I'll take the blood out?" she offers and I nod, "She'll also need a sheet to cover the base"

Elena brings a clean white sheet back in a matter of seconds and I gently lower Katerina into the small space, folding her legs to make room.

"Forgive me," I whisper, placing my jacket over her so that she shan't feel the cold,

"This is only temporary" I promise, kissing her head as I close the lid and encase her in the darkness.

My foot barely touches the Persian rug in the hallway before Caroline Forbes is bursting in the front door, her hands are laden with shopping bags but otherwise the woman my little brother loves looks immaculate. She grinds to a halt when she spots me and I can see her stretching her senses to encase the whole house. I can tell that she's searching for my brother but when his scent or sound fails to appear, her shoulders droop the tiniest amount.

"Okay" she announces brightly. "I'm here and I brought coffee, bagels and Jeremy"

Young Jeremy Gilbert brushes past her and smirks, "You wouldn't have to bring me if my own sister didn't keep sexiling me"

I blink at the vulgarity of that statement and move back into the parlour, Caroline follows me and sets her bags on the table, handing me my own cup of coffee,

"I didn't know what you drink so I got you a large black" she explains apologetically and I smile as I swallow the urge to gag. American percolated coffee is the only beverage I have ever encountered that is improved by the addition of vervain. However as I am not a barbarian I thank her kindly and remind myself that I've tasted much worse things.

Nothing that I can bring to mind immediately but I am a millennia old.

I watch her set the table with a skill dear Elena lacks, I also notice that she has brought an extra cup of coffee. Apparently I wasn't the only outsider she was expecting to see today.

The Mystic Falls gang has a strategy for dealing with enemies. I suppose it's something they've had time and ample opportunity to perfect. First they call everyone available and summon them to a meeting point and then break the news and round table the problem.

Damon has me relate everything that I have seen and heard over the last twenty-four hours, Elena then reiterates that Stefan would never behave in such a manner. Caroline adds that Stefan hasn't spoken to her once over the summer and that as his best friend and sober sponsor it's unlike him. Jeremy plays the role of devil's advocate, trying to counter their arguments but thankfully they decide that Silas is definitely not the one imprisoned in the quarry.

Unfortunately at this point they all look to me for counsel, I put my hands in my pocket and grace them with a blank stare. They don't immediately comprehend the symbolism behind my silence so I make it very clear for them,

"In no way shape or form is this my problem" I announce,

"This is none of my concern, nor my brother's, nor even my sister's. You are the ones who refused Silas the cure, you are the ones with whom he is angry. If I were to walk away this very second I would do so without the slightest trouble, he holds no grudge against me"

Despite everything that I had experienced in the last day and a half, I find the disbelief on their faces amusing. When I first met these people I was bargaining with another vampire for possession of Elena, I have betrayed them all more than once and have made no effort to conceal the brutality I am capable of.

Yet they have the ability to be completely stunned that I shan't be throwing my lot in with theirs and partaking in whatever troubles lie ahead. Elena is particular seems especially shocked, although in fairness the men in her life harbour a collective desire to protect her at all costs.

Jeremy's head shoots up and he glances over Caroline's shoulder, he nods to the deceptively empty air and is darting out the door before Elena even has time to form her argument.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N- Sorry the update is late, but its a super long chapter.

* * *

Damon's POV

Elena's nails are digging so deeply into my hand that I might need pliers to extract them, not that I begrudge her the unwitting pain she's causing me because she's only trying to help.

Or to be precise, she's trying to hinder my inevitable death that will follow my failed attempt to break my fist on Elijah's face.

My brother is trapped, Silas is free and probably planning the mother of all revenge scheme and the Original douchebag has decided to opt out of this particular fucktastrophe.

Jeremy bolts out the door as I look to Caroline and we begin arguing with the marble statue, pointing out every time he's screwed us over and how deeply he owes us, Elena interrupts with attempts to appeal to Elijah's barely existent humanity.

When I've finished getting Jeremy's 'Cockblocker of the Year' trophy made, I'll have to get Elena one for emotional manipulation, she plays everyone in this town like a professional.

Unfortunately the death of Her Royal Bitchiness has completely skewered Elijah's personality, it's hard to tell whether he's in shock or grief-stricken because he's so damn unflappable that if he wasn't rebutting every one of our points I'd be checking to make sure Klaus didn't stick a dagger in him while we weren't watching.

Elena is about to climb onto my lap to keep me seated when her little brother barges back in the door with the typical Gilbert tact. He announces that he made some calls, both telephonic and telepathic to Bonnie and Emily Bennett, he then decides to drop the bombshell that Katherine Pierce isn't as dead as some of us would like.

When Elijah's hand goes for this throat I reckon it's pretty safe to assume the Original has past the first stage of grief in the Kubler Ross model and is firmly stationed in anger. He has my girlfriend's brother dangling in the air and is choking the life out of him before I can even register that Jeremy had the balls to suggest we torch Katherine.

Admirable but not the best audience to invite to a vampire barbeque.

I try to jam a poker into Elijah's back to distract him from Gilbert elimination long enough to get everyone to relative safety, but he snatches the antique from me and tosses it into the hallway in a move that looks casual but inserts the metal so deeply into the wall I doubt the panelling can be fixed. Caroline is digging through her purse and comes up with a stake that according to the laws of physics shouldn't fit into such a tiny bag but I'm not complaining. She is signalling to me to distract the Original and I'm about to make my next suicide attempt when Elena's emotional manipulation finally makes it through the millennia old skull.

"Elijah" Elena clutches his sleeve desperately, tears running down her face "Jeremy wouldn't lie…not about this…please I've lost so much already…I can't lose my brother…not again"

The Original vampire exhales and drops him, moving back towards the fireplace as if the majority of the room hadn't just been planning to violently incapacitate him.

"So you believe that Katerina can be resurrected?"

Jeremy's still struggling to breathe normally, Elena drags him to the couch and I have to resist the urge to throw myself between them, I can see Jeremy's hands twitching and I'm guessing there's some residue vampire hunter juju left in his veins. He'll have to sleep at Matt's tonight. Nevertheless he puts on a brave face as he nods and massages his throat.

Elijah turns to Caroline who is still holding the stake in her hand, "And I presume that this resurrection will be sanctioned only if I aid you in the fight against Silas?"

Caroline is glaring daggers at him and holding the stake pointed at his chest but she nods, and he sighs,

"Very well, you summon the witch and I shall fetch Stefan Salvatore from the quarry"

He breezes out the door before any of us can change our minds.

Apparently we're all fucking allies again.

* * *

Six days later

My little brother is trapped in the quarry; he's cold, alone, probably scared out of his mind and definitely starving and I can't go to him.

Instead I'm stuck in our parlour with Elena, the one person whom I can't take my anger and frustration out on. I turn away from the fireplace I've been glaring at for the last half hour to watch her as she checks her phone for the thirty-eighth time, waiting for the news.

She meets my stare, she's as worried as I am and she doesn't try to bullshit me. Whichever way we look at this situation, it's not pretty.

Or to be more precise, whichever way _I_ look at this situation because the moment Elijah offered to fish my baby brother from the quarry Elena's shoulders sank with relief and she feels absolutely no concern about trusting the Original who currently holds the record in his family for most betrayals of the Mystic Falls Scooby gang.

Me? I'm praying to the higher deities who usually jump at the chance to screw me over that Elijah won't change his mind on the way to the quarry and decide to get some new suits tailored instead.

When Jeremy and Elena played 'Hide and Stake' with Kol, they used our last white oak stake and it burnt to smithereens along with the youngest Original brother.

Hence the reason Elijah is the best and only candidate for this excursion, Silas can make him think he has a white oak stake nestled in his internal organs but he can't actually kill him.

Elena and I both look up when the front door opens and Caroline strides in,

"I put Skye on the train" she tells us and I roll my eyes and toss her a withering smile. That damn voodoo hippie witch Abby sent us spent the last week being the biggest pain in my ass. Which is pretty impressive when you consider the stiff competition.

We had Elijah in one of the guest rooms standing vigil over Katherine who, despite being dead and unaware of her surroundings, got to lie between and ruin the Irish linen. He really only emerged to drink cups of tea with Elena and take his precious time rescuing my brother.

I had Caroline bouncing through the door, showing more energy than I've seen from her in months and commandeering Elena the second Elijah was finished with her.

Bonnie is apparently taking the most scenic route available through Virginia because she has yet to show her face, despite having been called and warned about the shit hitting the proverbial fan.

And of course Jeremy just had to choose this week to become a secretive angst ridden teen. Not that he isn't always but whenever he ramps it up I'm guaranteed an increase in the bullshit I have to deal with in this death trap town.

Now I have the linen ruined by eua de corpse soaking in the laundry, a kitchen that reeks of tofu and holistic crap I've never heard of and refuse to call food. I have Liz and Rudy Hopkins threatening to stop by unless I tell them what's going on. A brother six feet under freezing water, a girlfriend I haven't made love to all week and her ancestor and my ex upstairs either comatose or pulling the best performance of her life.

Oh and Silas.

Once again I find myself calculating the amount of time it would take to evacuate this town and the weaponry required to blow it sky high. I'll even be patriotic and spare the missiles they have earmarked for the Middle East. Surely they have some bombs left over after Nagasaki?

Elena sighs as she checks her phone for the thirty-ninth time- still no news.

She makes her way over to me and embraces me from behind, resting her face against my back and kissing my shoulder blade, the tension within me eases ever so slightly.

"It'll be okay" she murmurs, her hands wrapped tight around my stomach, I give her a half-hearted smirk, they should bottle Elena's optimism and sell it to losing armies because no matter how bad the odds are my woman always has faith that things will come right again.

Of course if they don't, when I do finally get Silas vulnerable I'll rip him to shreds in a way that'll have him wishing he'd never been born and Qetsiyah coming over from the Other Side to shake my blood soaked hand.

I make a point of keeping the number of people who screw my little brother over and live low enough that they couldn't even fill all the positions required to run their damned 'Stefan Salvatore Hate' club.

Only I get a free pass in making his life miserable.

My right hand has been attached to a glass of scotch the entire week I've been dealing with the visiting Cirque du Freaks, so I use my left to stroke Elena's hands, missing the comfort of her skin.

She believes its poor form to have sex in a house full of broken hearts.

Although when I catch the torn expression on Caroline's face out of the corner of my eye I find myself momentarily agreeing with her.

If Tyler Lockwood doesn't get home soon it'll be too late for him.

I know that look, I saw that look when the South fell, when my brothers-in-arms saw their cities and homes burnt to the ground and used the newly created space to bury their childhood friends.

Shellshock with a side of survivor's guilt.

Caroline's barely functioning, she's lost too much and too quickly. Not that she's alone, our group could pen novels based on what we've suffered- collectively and individually, but she's been abused, repeatedly tortured and betrayed by nearly everyone she's ever loved. She's always been the strongest of us and I realised how much I admire her and depend on her for that.

Unfortunately I came to this insight too late. Caroline's spark is coming close to extinguishing and we're all at our wits end trying to keep it alight. I have my minimal friends and acquaintances from over the years keeping an eye out for Lockwood, Elena and I drove back up to the nature reserve where we spent a full moon hunting my brother and being hunted by werewolves, this time we stayed only long enough to ask if any of them had seen Tyler, show them some photos of Founder's Day events to prove that we're acquaintances and not enemies and then hightailed it out of there when the assholes decided to err on the side of caution and try and bite us anyway. Jeremy's spent hours on social media sites doing things I barely comprehend but that he assures me are helping search for the MIA hybrid.

I consider all this effort as solid proof that Elena's ruined me. I'm busting my ass over a guy I don't even like and who, in keeping with the tradition I started, is nowhere near good enough for Caroline. I can hardly throw stones in that area; still, I'd always considered Tyler Lockwood an over-privileged douchebag, no different from the Lockwood's I knew when I was human. He'd had everything handed to him and it'd made him spoilt and a bully to those who weren't as lucky.

Even his slave owning ancestors hadn't had the gall to harass me or Stefan once we'd lost our mother but Tyler hadn't considered that an incentive to leave Jeremy alone.

When Caroline did start dating him I'd assumed it was a safe way to deal with her new born vampire lust, they were in a mutually beneficial relationship, using each other as a learning tool to traverse their new world. The rest of us had either been way too dead or distracted by Ripper Stefan to be of any help and truthfully no-one, or Bonnie and Elena, had expected the relationship to last.

Except that one of Caroline's best qualities is her loyalty, so even when Tyler joined Klaus' elite circle of sired hybrid bitches she stayed, even when Tyler kept challenging Klaus, screwing up and Caroline had to throw herself between them and flirt with the Original Hybrid to keep her boyfriend and his idiotic insurrection alive she stayed.

If I hadn't been so focused on keeping Elena safe I probably would have told her to cut and run. Nobody should have to flirt with Klaus Mikaelson or any of the Originals just to carry out one of our plans.

I'd had a coronary when Stefan used Elena to get Elijah onside and that Original is the safest guy to have around your girlfriend when it comes to fidelity. Also after Tatia and Katherine I reckon he was pretty gun shy in the doppelganger department.

But Caroline thought that Tyler was in the right and that he was a great leader- which is the biggest load of bull I'd heard in a while.

It takes next to nothing to be a decent leader- I'd lead my squadron for three weeks when our Colonel had been ridden with pneumonia, it'd all been unofficial of course and I hadn't signed any papers in my own name but I'd given orders, advised my fellow soldiers and kept morale as high as possible. It's not that hard.

Hell, in lieu of a better option, I'm de facto leader for the Mystic Falls Scooby Gang and Elena's the only one who doesn't wish me dead every time I open my mouth.

I squeeze her hand again and step out of her embrace so we aren't completely rubbing our relationship in Caroline's face and move over to the bar,

"Run into Stefan while you were out and about?" I ask, trying to keep my voice casual. The problem with Silas is his epic ability to mess with our heads and take on the appearance of anyone he pleases.

We've spent the last week running over everything that we've said to each other and everything we've done together since graduation and we didn't discover any discrepancies. As far as we can tell, Stefan is the only face Silas is wearing for the moment.

Caroline shakes her head, "Nope…I've left him another dozen voice mails, and if he doesn't get here soon he's going to miss my pre-registration planning completely"

Caroline thrives under pressure or life threatening circumstances. She's spent this last week both play-acting carefree and organising college options for the group before Elena came in at the last minute and demanded Whitmore College, refusing to leave the state while Jeremy is still in high school.

And seeing as how Matt is somewhere in Central Europe, Bonnie is only communicating via text and, as we know now, Stefan is trapped in the quarry, Caroline quickly folded under Elena's doe-eyed gaze.

But that choice and inevitable effect it will have on our relationship will have to wait, because I've just heard Elijah's car pull into the driveway and head straight into the garage. It takes everything within me not to race outside because we can't be entirely sure that Silas isn't watching us.

My heart beats six hundred times before Elijah appears in the hallway and checks the area around him, I'm not entirely sure what he's looking for and I don't particularly care.

Because Stefan comes in behind him.

* * *

My brother is dead.

He's pale with dark veins painted across all his exposed skin, what parts of him aren't emaciated are bloated from the water. His clothes are dripping, ruined rags. He's moving so slowly, one foot at a time, his milky eyes searching the room with every step.

Elena, Caroline and I are frozen; we want nothing more than to embrace him but we can't move. We're terrified by this monstrosity before us.

Stefan reaches the step leading into the parlour and seems to forget about it, he loses his footing and I'm racing forward and have him in my arms before I even register that I moved.

I try not to gag on his scent. Every part of him seems mildewed. Still I hold onto him because if I can feel him than that means that he's really here.

"I love you Damon" he buries his head in my shoulder and I'm fighting the urge to get teary. The last time I held my brother, we were human and I was standing over my mother's still warm corpse.

I could probably stand there for another few hours without caring who was watching this Hallmark family moment but Stefan removes his hands from my back and starts touching my chest, it takes me a moment to realise he's not feeling me up but trying to push me away and I can see just how weak he's become.

I pull back and he looks around the room again, narrowing his eyes at Elena, she frowns and comes forward tentatively, I wonder if perhaps he thinks that she's Katherine but she still has the pink streak in her hair. It isn't until she's two metres away that he whispers her name and I realise that his eyesight has degenerated so severely that he couldn't see her.

Fuck.

I clap him on the shoulder, "I'm gonna grab you something to eat" I tell him but he doesn't seem to hear me. I nearly flash to the basement before I remember that Elena moved all our blood to the fridge when Katherine took up residence in our cooler and I'm pretty sure she forgot to move it back.

So instead I head to the kitchen and hope that everyone is too distracted to notice when I stop breathing and clutch the marble countertop with such force that it begins to crumble in my hands.

_My baby brother!_

I want to find a human and rip their throat to shreds and bathe in their blood, I want to find the seediest bar and massacre every last occupant and then burn the place to the ground. I want to kill and slash and torture and maim.

But I can't because I have a baby brother that has weakened so badly that he's blind, deaf and probably demented. I have a girlfriend who can't go to sleep at night unless she's checked on Jeremy twice and made sure the duffel bag I used in Denver is still in my closet without a stitch of clothing inside. I have Caroline withdrawing from every aspect of life and a witch somewhere on this continent either on the verge of or going through her long overdue nervous breakdown. I have a resurrected ex-girlfriend upstairs and a town mayor sharpening a stake with my name on it.

Oh and Silas.

I grab a few bags of blood from the fridge and wonder if Stefan will want animal blood instead.

Screw it, I don't have time to catch a rabbit, he can stay on the human stuff until we get his strength back up. We can wean him off it later if we need to.

I just finish microwaving the bags when I hear Elijah clear his throat and Caroline making an awkward noise.

"No Stefan" Elena is speaking softly, "We broke up remember?"

My brother just made a pass at my girlfriend apparently, well he just spent three months under water, I'm considering him remembering her at all a bonus at this point.

Still, I throw the bags into a jug and make tracks to the parlour before Elena changes her mind and I'm once more relegated to back-up boyfriend.

"Lunch is ready" I announce, completely faking my happy mood as I set up Stefan's meal at the bar, I decide to throw the blood into the tumbler, better to feed the blood to him a little bit at a time, if he throws it up he'll just get hungrier and Jeremy will be changing his address to the Donovan dump for a more permanent basis.

Elena finishes extracting herself from my brother's embrace and ignores his confusion as she comes to stand by me, which won't do her any good because I immediately head back to Stefan's side as Caroline ushers him to the couch, he jumps when she touches him but offers her a small smile.

"I like it when you're here Caroline" he murmurs, "I miss you lots"

The three of us blink in confusion. I would say the four of us but Elijah is checking his phone with an eye on the stairs in case Katherine makes an appearance.

I write it off as exhaustion and sit next to my brother, trying not to tense when he wraps a hand around my wrist. We're sharing more affection than we have for the last one hundred and sixty years. I clear my throat and go to take a drink before remembering that this isn't mine,

"Here," I hand the tumbler to him, he looks at it before averting his eyes and I wonder if he can even see it, "Stefan…drink this"

Caroline and Elena are sitting across from us on the edge of their seats, waiting to see if Stefan takes little recovery sips or goes completely Ripper on us. He tries to push the glass away again and starts trembling, I repeat myself and he almost starts shaking,

"No" Stefan pushes the glass away, "I don't want to wake up…please don't make me wake up"

"What?!" Caroline is confused but I don't have time to wonder what my brother is talking about because he flashes to the fireplace and grabs a piece of charred wood that I hadn't cleaned out. Elena and I reach him at the same second and she rips the weapon from his hands as I restrain him, he's panicking now,

"Please don't make me wake up…I can't wake up, I can't do it…not again…I'm so hungry and cold and hungry and I can't breathe"

He grips my arms with his hands and is shouting incoherently, I can't see his face but I can see the agony on Elena's, the wide-eyed horror and helplessness.

"He thinks he's still in the safe" Caroline announces, coming forward and cupping Stefan's face, he tries to shake her off but she looks into his eyes, "Stefan…" she says firmly, "This isn't a dream, you are awake and Elijah fetched you from the quarry"

"In return for Katerina being resurrected and yet she has not awoken" Elijah interrupts, moving from the window to look at me accusingly like I deliberately screwed him over.

I wonder if he's possibly missed the fact that my brother is having a panic attack in my arms.

I could give a damn about Katherine Pierce right now but we made a deal with Elijah and I suppose he'll want to make tracks the hell out of Mystic Falls before Silas decides it's open season on vampires.

"We promised to bring her back to life," I remind him, distracted by my struggling brother, "If Sleeping Beauty isn't keeping to your schedule take her back to NOLA and get a witch there to take a look at her"

Elijah makes a face at that suggestion, "There aren't any witches left in New Orleans" he announces as casually as if our conversation was about the weather as opposed to supernatural genocide.

"My brother and I removed them"

Wow.

Stefan is still panicking but Elijah succeeded in getting the rest of the room's attention.

Caroline and Elena can't even begin to understand how many witches there were in New Orleans, I lived there for a year and even I couldn't guess but to have removed all of them…

I shake my head, unable to comprehend this.

"Maybe if you wait a little longer she'll wake up?" Caroline suggests but I'm not holding out hope.

Katherine had opened her eyes for a grand total of ten seconds when the spell was first performed, she'd looked about wildly, spoken to Elijah in Old English and conked out again.

I had Meredith come by when the Original wasn't around, she took one look at the doppelganger and told me that if nothing else, she was faking her Rip Van Winkle act.

Smart Girl.

What Elijah suddenly decides that he's in love with Katherine again and expects her to jump into his arms for a free ride into the sunset? Not unless she was resurrected without her brain, outside of his family that man has the loyalty of a dictator's General.

I'd be pulling the exact same card if I was in her shoes, and if I know Katherine, Elijah won't be getting her unending devotion until he's gone above and beyond the call of duty.

Not only will he have to put a ring on it, but he'll probably have to sign his balls away in the world's most carefully worded pre-nup.

But I'm not about to tell him this and he appears to have grown tired of waiting for his dear sweet love to wake up.

Katherine's out of time.

* * *

With a growl I grab my brother's head and twist, snapping his neck. Elena shouts in horror and catches Stefan as he falls forward, holding him in her arms and glaring at me.

Caroline is calling me every name under the sun but I ignore them both and pick my brother up, slinging him over my shoulder and nearly retching when the pressure of my shoulder blade on his stomach has watery vomit cascading down my shirt, jeans and on the Persian carpet.

Thankfully I get him to his bedroom with minimal fuss, I strip him and Elena comes in and goes straight to his chest of drawers and pulls out a worn t-shirt and tracksuit pants I wasn't even aware my little brother had.

I kick her out of the room while I change him, I know at this point she's probably seen him naked more than I have but I know he wouldn't want her to see him like this.  
I can barely stand to see him like this.  
Caroline comes in just as I get him under the doona, she holds out a blood filled syringe,

"We should fill him up now when he's not panicking" she explains simply, keeping cool and collected while Elena and I can barely keep ourselves standing upright, I nod and take the instrument from her, jamming it into my brothers neck and noticing immediately how colour starts returning to that area. "I reckon one an hour to keep him from desiccating" I guess and she shrugs,

"Hopefully he won't be out too long…want me to call Dr Fell to wake up Mega bitch?"

I smirk as we walk down the hallway, "No…she doesn't have to be conscious for us to evict her"

Caroline shoots me a smile and we meet Elijah on the stairs as he passes us holding a glass of water for Katherine, with our luck he'll be out of our hair and we'll have a few hours grace to figure out how to survive Silas. Elena emerges from our bedroom with my duffle bag in hand and my blood runs cold.

She can't kick me out for snapping Stefan's neck, he was hyperventilating and hysterical, even weakened he could have become dangerous. Besides, with Jeremy at Casa Donovan, if I go to Rick's apartment it'll still be too far away in case my brother wakes up hungry and decides to chow down on the first human he sees.

He's my little brother.

She needs me here.

_I_ need me here.

I open my mouth to begin arguing but she makes no move to toss me,

"Elijah asked if I could lend Katherine some clothes" she explains, holding up the bag,

"I couldn't find my favourite boots or jeans, you haven't been cleaning my stuff again have you?"

Considering that Elena didn't even know they still made shoe polish until I dubbed her boots last week, I'm not surprised she doesn't realise that I didn't need to clean her boots weekly. I shake my head and she goes to hand over some of the little clothing she has to Elijah for Katherine to wear disdainfully.

Because no matter how badly we've suffered under his family that asshole still expects basic manners and social niceties.

I hear shattering glass from the guestroom and the three of us reach the doorway just as a fresh gust of wind sends the long curtains flying.

I see an empty bed and a window with a broken lock.

Fuck.

Katherine's gone.

And if I know her she'll be headed as far away from Silas as she can get while still being on a landmass. I'm guessing that she'll be in New Zealand or Antarctica by the end of the week.

* * *

A/N- Review my pretties, REVIEW!  
Seriously, let me know if I captured Damon.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N- By way of apology for the long delay, here's a nice long chapter.

* * *

Matt's POV

"You know" Rebekah begins conversationally, linking her arm through mine as we walk,

"I was here with Nik and Elijah when the St Bartholomew's Eve massacre took place, it was dreadful, Nik was mistaken for a Protestant and I was caught in bed with Henri of Navarre, Queen Margot was absolutely furious with me and Elijah was dining with Coligny's men and was beheaded"

I turn to her bewildered, "He was beheaded?"

She nods, "Accidentally, he was thrown from a window and landed on a sword…but it took me three days to find all of him and another one to sow him back together…although by that point I'd been exiled from court and Nik had escaped the Bastille so we had to get out of France anyways"

I shake my head to try and comprehend everything she just told me, how casually she recounts having pissed off the French royal family and fleeing the country.

Rebekah's life has been filled with treasures and adventures, princes, dictators, werewolves and legends.

"I really don't know what you see in me" I tell her as we climb the staircase, she smiles and leans her head against my shoulder,

"There has been a distinct lack of good men in my life Matt" she points out, "If you don't believe me ask Nik…he keeps a list of all my less than stellar exes"

She pauses at the top of the stairs and looks around, "From what I remember, it's…this way"

She releases me and skips ahead, sticking her head into the room and checking first, "I was right"

I follow her and blink when she finds the lights, I raise my head and find the exhibit standing proudly in the middle of the room.

The Mona Lisa.

"You know, I really do not understand what everyone sees in this painting" Rebekah sighs after I get my photo with the tiny portrait, "I mean it's a good painting, don't get me wrong but…Da Vinci's other works are so spectacular…this is just some trollop whose husband had money to burn"

I smirk and wander around the room to look at the other pieces of art, Rebekah promised me a full twelve hour tour of the Louvre- I should have known that she would sneak us in after dark.

For three months she's shown me every country in Europe I've wanted to see, every major monument, every castle, palace or chateau, every famous landscape or where heroes lived.

It's been the best summer of my life.

We've stayed in the best hotels and sometimes the dodgiest hostels so that we'd meet fellow travellers, we spent a week backpacking with a couple of English guys who were practically in love with Rebekah by the time we parted ways in Prague.

She insisted on leaving Paris until last because she hated the sheer amount of tourists. If these last three months have taught me anything it's that Original vampires don't do queues, Bekah's left a trail of compelled museum curators and gallery staff across Europe. Not that I'm complaining.

Her confidence can be pretty hot.

It's a Monday night and I'm still pretty tired from walking around Paris all day while she gave me her personal history of the city so instead of hitting up a bar we catch a taxi back to the apartment in Luxembourg. Apparently Elijah bought this apartment shortly before World War Two broke out, which makes sense because nothing looks like it's been updated for seventy years. She sees me to the door of the building, gives me a quick kiss and then vanishes, I fumble with the keys but otherwise don't react.

I know what this means by now.

She's gone to get blood.

Being away from Mystic Falls, away from the Salvatore brothers and Elena, it's hard to remember that there's such things as vampires, werewolves and witches. Even when Bekah's standing with me in the Vatican and recalling the time a Pope discovered she and Klaus were siblings and then tried to lure them into a three way, I can forget that she's one of the strongest, most powerful creatures on the planet. But she's gone to a lot of effort to hide her blood drinking from me, usually disappearing for a few hours every couple of nights…well except for the time some asshole in Bratislava tried to stab me with a broken beer bottle. She had him drained and dead before I could even blink.

* * *

I let myself into the apartment, kicking off my boots and falling back onto the ridiculously expensive couch, wondering for the umpteenth time what it is with vampires and their love for classy but uncomfortable furniture, I'm sorting through my souvenirs and writing my postcards before I realise that the buzzing sound is Bekah's phone ringing.

I don't reach it in time and it goes still for a second before ringing again, I lean over and pick it up, starting slightly when I see the name on the screen.

Nik.

Three missed calls.

Crap.

I really don't want to answer the phone, but when it rings for a fifth time the buzzing somehow seems angry, as if it's channelling Klaus' temper.

Crap.

"Hello?" I answer tentatively,

"Matthew" his British accent sends chills up my spine, "How are you enjoying Europe?"

"Um…fine…its good I'm having a blast"

"Wonderful…I'm glad my sister's giving you such a good time"

The way he says that makes me wonder if Bekah's told him anything, if he knows that we had sex in Amsterdam and we've been together since then.

Damn vampires, they always have to mean more than they say. They can never be straightforward _unless_ they're demanding something from you.

"Uh…Rebekah's not here at the moment" I tell him apologetically, as if her absence isn't clear by the fact that I answered the phone, as if I would ever _willingly_ have a conversation with the guy who made my friend's lives a living hell for a year and a half.

"Actually mate, I was hoping to speak to you"

Oh _Crap_.

"Um…" I pause and hope my voice doesn't break, "Why?"

"Caroline called me, it appears that your presence is required in Mystic Falls as soon as humanly possible"

"What?"

Klaus must be wondering if I'm drunk at this point, or a complete idiot but he rings out of the blue and drops this bombshell on me…I'm still trying to process this.

"Caroline called me" he repeats, his words becoming clipped, "She told me that you need to return to Mystic Falls…"

"No, no I get that" I assure him, "But why is Caroline ringing you?"

There's a silence, only a second of it, the merest hesitation but enough for me to figure out that I've pissed off the most dangerous guy I've ever met.

"She tried contacting you" he explains to me, every single word dipped in cold disdain, "But you are currently unreachable by your cell and you didn't reply to her emails, she then called me and requested that I get the message through"

"I didn't know you were taking _requests_" I snort, laughing at his poor choice of words that make him sound like a dj in a nightclub.

Apparently I have a death wish because I only grasp afterwards that pop culture jokes probably aren't something the Original Hybrid is top of the class at.

Fortunately Rebekah chooses that moment to walk through the front door and thanks to her vampire reflexes, catches the phone I throw at her as if it's a live grenade.

"Rebekah speaking" she trills and then rolls her eyes, "Hello Nik…what do you want?"

He probably relays the message to her because she puts a hand on her hip and makes a face, "Why?"

"Well can't Elijah deal with the situation...What do you mean he's in Mexico...Oh that _bloody_ doppelganger again!...Yes Nik…yes…as soon as we can…I don't bloody _know_ when that'll be…just ring Caroline Forbes and tell her he'll get back as soon as he can"

She hangs up and throws the phone onto the couch before huffing and facing me,

"I am sorry Matt, but Caroline made it sound really urgent and Nik can't come from New Orleans"

"But she's asking for me to hop a plane from Paris?!" I point out, chuckling even as the adrenaline starts coursing through my veins.

"I'm sure it's nothing" she sighs, even as she picks up her phone to ring her manager,

"Probably a Mystic Falls party that needs bartending or a pageant that needs colour co-ordinating"

We both know that not even Caroline is high-maintenance enough to drag a friend from Europe back to the States for anything short of a disaster but it's nice to consider this as a possibility.

Because the truth will probably suck.

Bekah is arguing with the guy on the other end of the phone, the manager she told me about called Lewis.

I don't know if it's an entire office of people or just one extremely overworked person but the Originals always ring the same number no matter what they want done, travel arrangements, property purchases, interior decorating, catering, apparently he even sent Elijah tailored shirts from England.

I'm jiggling my legs up and down nervously by the time Rebekah rewrites the laws of time, space and airport procedure.

"The plane leaves in two hours and the car will be downstairs in thirty minutes" she tells me, "Start packing"

I jump to my feet and she gives me a quick kiss as I brush past her,

"You shouldn't let Nik scare you like that" she chides me and I snort,

"Easy for you to say, you're immortal"

I would feel bad about the sheer level of compulsion Rebekah uses to get us through check-in, security, and customs but my heart is still in my throat after she got us from the centre of Paris to Charles de Gaulle airport in fifteen minutes when the trip is supposed to take over thirty.

Boarding has only just started when we find our gate and because Originals don't fly economy we're ushered straight into First Class.

"You're amazing" I tell her as I stretch in the leather seat, looking out the window onto the tarmac as she starts flicking through the movie selection, she blushes at my compliment,

"In trouble is what I am" she confesses, "Nik has been waiting for me to turn up in New Orleans for months now, ever since Erik was born and the take-over…"

"Who's Erik?" I ask and she rolls her eyes, "It's a long story"

"Um…we have a thirteen hour flight ahead of us"

She sighs, "You have a point" she signals the air hostess, "But you might want a drink for this"

* * *

That particular conversation only took six hours but I could tell that my eyes were still wide with shock when the plane began its descent into Richmond. Rebekah was blatantly ignoring phone regulations and calling her manager to double check that their respective cars were waiting for them at the airport.

"Are you sure you'll be alright?" she asked, beginning to collect the various things she'd scattered around their seats during the long flight,

"Um…how did he get Hayley pregnant again?" I asked, still trying to wrap my head around the fact that the Original Vampire had knocked up a one night stand by accident.

God that was such a _human_ thing to do.

Rebekah shrugged, "We still aren't entirely sure…they would have asked the witch for more details but…well they did threaten my family and any idiot could have told them how well that ends"

Yeah.

"But seriously, are you sure you'll be alright to get back to Mystic Falls?"

I grinned, "You're putting me in a car that'll take me from the airport straight to my house…how much trouble could I get in?"

She raised her eyebrow and smirked, "In a car, you?"

I snickered, "Just don't stand on any bridges and I'll be fine…besides your entire family has left town, my life expectancy has probably jumped twenty years"

The seatbelt sign switched off and we get to our feet, stretching and getting ready to disembark the plane first.

"I am going to miss the perks of travelling with you" I confessed as we crossed the tarmac, stepped into the airport and she whipped off her sunglasses to begin her mass compulsion, she shrugged and feigned casualness as we were waved through customs.

"Well you can always come visit New Orleans if you ever get bored" she offers half-heartedly but I can tell she doesn't expect me to take her up on that offer.

We'd both agreed that what happened in Europe would stay in Europe- although that was a pretty hard rule to follow when I remember waking up to her sweet vulnerable smile and watching guys everywhere hit on her and know that I'd be the one having sex with her that night.

I let the conversation trail off as we collect our baggage and head out to the arrival terminal to find two men standing there with our names written on paper.

"Well this is goodbye" she tells me briskly and I murmur an agreement, she hesitates and then wraps her free arm around me in a quick and awkward hug,

"Goodbye Matt"

She nods to the driver with her sign and he follows her as she strides through the airport, leaving her suitcase for him to grab.

God she was hot when she was confident.

"Shall we go sir?"

Huh? I look to the man standing there waiting for me to respond,

"Oh yeah sure thanks"

I carry my own bags to the jeep he somehow managed to park in the two minute zone without getting fined, towed or abused by the parking inspectors.

I climb into the backseat and get myself comfortable, hoping that I have a few hours or even days to get back into the swing of things before the regular apocalyptic madness reigns down on me.

* * *

But an hour later the driver pulls into a gas station about forty miles from home and I find the door opposite me opening and a familiar face appearing in the gap,

"Hi Matt"

I jump in surprise, _"Stefan?"_

No.

He slides into the seat beside me and with a proper look I can see this guy isn't Stefan Salvatore.

They warned me that Silas could transform himself to be anyone he wanted to, but clearly he doesn't know Elena's ex-boyfriend.

For one thing, he doesn't have any gel in his hair.

"What d'you want?" I demand, trying to sound brave and wishing I'd recharged my phone before we'd left Paris so that I could have rung Caroline or Jeremy when I landed.

"Relax Matthew" Silas smirks, "I was simply making my way back to Mystic Falls after a quick visit to Salem and thought I'd hitch a ride with you"

"If you're after the cure it's gone" I tell him firmly, hoping that if I'm the one to break the news to him he'll take his frustrations out on me and leave my friends alone, he laughs,

"Oh I'm aware, fortunately for me, dear little Katherine Pierce was left rather unprotected and as such I was able to get a large sample of her blood, enough for me to have the cure replicated either by magic or science"

I try to figure this all out in my mind. Does that mean Katherine Pierce is dead? I remember Rebekah being pissed off because her eldest brother had been in Mexico and a doppelganger had somehow been involved but she probably would have mentioned if it had been _Elena_ who's crossed the border.

More importantly, if Silas had replicated the cure...

"Does this mean you're human now?" I ask, squashing the hope from my voice. Even if he is I still probably couldn't take him but it'd be worth a shot.

Or maybe I could somehow lure him to the Salvatore house where Damon will likely be hanging and get him to kill him for me.

Silas that is, not Damon, I mean I don't exactly like the guy but Elena's pretty in love with him so…

"I'm more or less human" he admits, not bothering to acknowledge the driver as he climbs back into the car, I feel sorry for the guy but surely if he works for a company that the Originals use, this can't be the weirdest conversation he's ever heard.

"I am a warlock though so the plan you have forming in your mind to kill me- whilst noble- is extremely foolish"

I swallow nervously and shift as far away from him as I can, "If you're human again then why are you still hiding behind other people's faces"

He laughs and even if he hadn't straight up admitted to not being Stefan, that alone would have been a dead give-away.

Stefan Salvatore does not laugh.

_Ever_.

"I'm not hiding" he eventually reveals to me and when I open my mouth to challenge that, he turns to me and grins,

"To cut straight to the point…after all, we are running out of time, Elena Gilbert isn't the only doppelganger in town"

"Stefan's your doppelganger?!"

Today is the day to blow my mind apparently. First Klaus has a baby and now Stefan is the doppelganger of an ancient monster?

But how?

"Nature was looking to create a version of me that could die" Silas explains as we cross into Mystic Falls,

"It took a while of course…there was always the chance that I would take the cure and kill myself however eventually it decided to even the balance. His maternal bloodline made him a perfect candidate for my doppelganger. Truthfully it should have been the elder Salvatore but I believe Damon was born to ensure the version of me that _could_ die would. That demonic saviour is death personified"

My brain is overloaded at this point and I just want to get out of the car,

"What d'you want from me?" I ask wearily, he grins and tells the driver to pull over when we get to Wickery Bridge. I instinctively tense every time I'm near this bridge and I don't particularly want to be stuck on it with a maniac, he climbs out but turns back to answer my question.

"Nothing Matthew, not yet anyway, but I am going to require the co-operation of you and your friends for the upcoming full moon"

He slams the door and I sit there in a daze until the driver stops at my house. I stare at the small weatherboard that April promised to look after in my absence, I want nothing more than to let myself in and collapse on my couch. Instead I sigh and ask the driver to take me to the Boarding House.

I don't think this can wait.

* * *

I walk in to find the place in complete chaos, Damon is throwing Stefan- the real one- over the gallery whilst Elena is racing down the stairs wrapped only in a towel. Stefan is shouting incoherently and Caroline is hanging up her phone and hurrying to comfort him as Jeremy comes up from the basement with vervein soaked ropes.

I freeze and watch the scene in front of me, undetected as Damon demands that Jeremy stay back and Caroline help him to tackle Stefan. Elena is blocking his path and arguing with him with Caroline backing her up. I have no idea what to do but Stefan makes that decision for me, he spots me standing in the hall and points to me,

"Matt…Matt _tell_ them!" he begs me and I stare at him while the others finally notice me, I open my mouth and stutter, not knowing what the hell is going on but definitely freaking out at the panic in Real Stefan's eyes, "You were _there_" he continues, "You have to tell them…Elena can't go in water, she'll _drown_"

Well…yeah, she doesn't exactly have a great track record with large bodies of water but I don't see why this is relevant right now.

"Stefan" Elena turns away from Damon and kneels before her ex-boyfriend, cupping his face in her hands, "Stefan I'm not going to drown okay, I promise, I was just taking a bath, the tub is safe so I'll be fine"

"_No_" he moans, falling forward and dropping his forehead onto Elena's knees, "No you won't, you'll _drown_ and be trapped and we won't be able to find you and you'll drown again and again and _again_ and you'll hurt and be cold and hungry and scared. The water isn't safe Elena!"

He finishes his rant screaming and grabs Elena's arms pulling her towards the roaring fireplace,

"Have to get dry, the fire is safe" he cries and we all race over when we realise that he's going to throw her into the actual fire. Caroline gets there first and snaps his neck.

Stefan's face falls onto Elena's barely covered lap and Caroline winces as she and Damon get him onto the couch, "Sorry" she tells the corpse, patting his hair gently

"I'll make it up to you I swear"

"What the hell was _that?!_" I demand, stepping into the parlour as Elena scrambles to her feet, Damon rolls his eyes, "It's a…"

"Long story" I finish for him, "Don't worry, it'll be my third long story today"

I make my way over to the wet bar that Damon usually guards like it's stuffed with diamonds and help myself to a scotch because fuck him I've earned it for making my way from Paris to back home without leaving a trail of bodies or levelled cities in my wake.

Last I checked I'm the only one in the room who can claim that.

"Stefan spent the summer trapped in the quarry" Elena explains, letting her hair out of its messy bun and blushing when Damon came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"He uh…he just woke up and he…I don't know"

"Gone completely insane" Jeremy finishes for her, "Elena I think he's lost his mind"

"Maybe we should move him down to the basement tomorrow?" Caroline suggests sadly,

"We'll furbish it today so he's not totally uncomfortable down there but maybe just until he's functioning again?"

"Maybe we should all join him down there" I quip, throwing back the rest of my drink, "It might be the safest place"

Damon sneers at me, the asshole has never liked me and there was one time where I strove for his approval or to impress him as the unofficial leader of our group, now I can't be bothered,

"I just shared a nice long car ride with Silas" I explain and everyone in the room tenses,

_"What?!"_ Caroline gasps, coming up and hugging me, "Are you okay? Did he hurt you?"

Damon rolls his eyes, "Obviously not otherwise he wouldn't be standing here would he?"

"He did say some stuff though" I tell her and she drags me over to the free couch so she can mother me while I divulge the nuggets of information. I open my mouth to begin when I remember that Elena is standing there practically naked and probably shielding Damon's boner from public view.

"Um Elena" I prompt her but when she doesn't click I roll my eyes, "D'you maybe wanna go put some clothes on?"

She shrugs, "No point, the only person in this room who hasn't seen me naked is Jeremy and he's my brother-cousin"

"Embrace your inner redneck!" Jeremy jokes before turning his head to the side and laughing, "Rick is here and he would also like to point out that you were technically his step-daughter and nearly became his step-niece as well"

Figures that even with one of our friends lying dead on the couch and doom hanging over our heads we can still joke, I guess after over a year of this we're becoming desensitised.

Caroline pats my knee to comfort me and I take a deep breath,

"Okay so Silas must have been out of town recently because he decided to hitch a ride back with me"

"How'd you get from Richmond airport to here?" Caroline interrupts and I can't help but smile at her concern, "Rebekah had cars come and get us, she had to get back to NOLA. Anyway, Silas told me that he attacked Katherine Pierce…"

"He killed her at the quarry when she figured out Stefan was in the water and tried to save him" Jeremy explains to me, "We had to resurrect her in return for Elijah getting Stefan out"

"Well he told me that he took a large sample of her blood and that he hoped to replicate the cure but he drank some of her blood first and now he's half-human or something oh and get this…he's running around looking like Stefan because Stefan's his _doppelganger_"

It takes a lot to render Damon Salvatore speechless but this seems to do the trick, he's left stunned and essentially motionless while Elena practically jumps down my throat to grill me,

"Did he give you any details about his line? About how Stefan is his doppelganger or why?" she demands, I shrug,

"I think Stefan is his first doppelganger, he said it was because of his mom's family"

The four conscious people in the room whose names aren't Salvatore look to Damon, he's paled slightly but he shakes his head,

"My mother came from Central Europe like the Petrova's but if that was the magical ingredient required there'd be doppelgangers all over America"

Something about him seems off but I let it go, "He also said that he's going to want our co-operation for the next full moon"

Jeremy frowns and gets out his phone, "When is…"

"The twenty-sixth at ten-forty-five p.m." Caroline announces automatically and when we all look at her she shrugs,

"My boyfriend is a werewolf I pencil every full moon into my calendar at the beginning of the year"

"Two weeks from now" Jeremy murmurs, tapping it into his phone and uploading it onto the group calendar app that we have installed on our phones. Originally it was Caroline's way of keeping us abreast of all the activities and events in Mystic Falls until it became our way of planning take-downs and murders.

Which makes it even weirder that it's decorated in pastel colours with uber-happy emoticons.

I stare at the smiling, sparling full moon that pops up on my screen and then Damon catches my attention by refilling my scotch, and then sitting on the couch next to his brother's head,

"Someone needs to call Bonnie" he announces, glaring at Jeremy as he opens his mouth,

"I don't care if she's catatonic in a padded cell with Nurse Ratched verbally abusing her, I want her back in town yesterday. If we don't bring her back Silas will and he won't have any qualms about using violence to do it. She gets her ass back here _now_!"

He glances at Caroline, "Barbie, don't suppose you're overdue for a sext to Santa Klaus?"

If looks could kill, Damon Salvatore would be spit-roasting right now. Caroline radiates coldness but manages to avoid saying anything nasty,

"Klaus has issues in New Orleans, he won't go into detail but if Elijah wasn't even willing to stick around I doubt _I'll_ be able to bring him back"

He rubs his mouth with his hand, "I don't know anyone else we'll be able to bring in, not for this big a favour, not when we don't know what exactly this is yet"

"Damon…" Elena warns him and we realise that Stefan's starting to wake up, this time Damon doesn't even glance over but casually snaps his brother's neck.

Caroline huffs angrily and storms out,

"I'm using your card to furbish the cell" she calls over her shoulder, "Jeremy come with me" she snaps, grabbing him by the arm and dragging him backwards and protesting out the front door.

I twist my mouth and look at my friend's corpse, "You want some help moving him?"

Damon shakes his head, "No I'm good"

He spots my suitcase in the front hall, "There's a guest room already set up but Katherine was in there last so it smells like dead body"

"It's been aired out and the sheets changed it smells perfectly fine" Elena assures me, standing up and readjusting her towel, "You should probably stay here while Silas is in town"

I shrug, "Don't think there's any food in my house anyway"

* * *

She walks me up to the guest room and I throw my suitcase on the bed trying to remember which clothes were clean and which aren't. After I unpack the souvenirs I decide to help myself to the kitchen and step into the hallway at the wrong time.

I hear muffled sounds and move to the end of the house, squinting when I stick my head around the corner and spot something in the shadows.

I freeze when I realise its Damon.

His back is to me and I can barely see him it's so dark, but two olive skinned arms come up around his shoulders and his hips are thrusting forward, I can hear Elena whimper and moan and her towel is lying abandoned on the carpet.

They couldn't even make it to their bedroom.

I step back and try to scrub the image of my first love being fucked against a wall by the town drunk who's banged every waitress at the Grill, regardless of whether or not they're single. There's a knock on the door and I know it's not going to be them that answer.

"Coming" I shout unnecessarily, stomping down the stairs, I take a second to wonder who it is that knocks on the door to the boarding house. I'm pretty sure the doorbell died from lack of use, and the place is usually unlocked anyway.

Whomever it is knocks again and I roll me eyes,

"I said I was comin-…" The word dies in my throat as my best friend grins at me,

"Hey Matt!"

_"Tyler?"_

* * *

A/N- Matt rarely gets any cover time on the show. How d'you think I went portraying him? Review and let me know.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N- Hello, so this is the longest chapter yet and I had to break it up into the second chapter which will also be Caroline's POV. I had trouble writing this because of Tyler, I may have to give him his own chapter. I may be rambling from exhaustion after spending an entire day writing this.

Who truly knows in this crazy world?

* * *

Caroline's POV

I abandoned my plan to refurbish the basement cell for Stefan the moment I got back to the Boarding House.

Silas was long since forgotten.

I ran through the forest, Tyler's hand firmly clutching mine, we reach Lockwood manor and barely skid to a stop before we're on the back veranda and I'm pulling out the keys Matt had cut for me. Tyler presses into me from behind, kissing my hair and I giggle as he presses his jean clad erection against me.

I manage to unlock the door mere seconds before Tyler breaks it down. We flash into the hallway and I press him up against the wall kissing him passionately, slipping my hands under his t-shirt and caressing his chest.

"I missed you so much" I moan, kissing his jaw and reaching down to undo his belt. He laughs,

"I missed you too babe" he picks me up and I wrap my legs around his waist, I kiss him again, channelling all the frustration and grief of the summer into this act.

His hair feels odd under my fingers but I brush it off and scrape my nails along his skull, massaging it as he stumbles and staggers up the stairs to his bedroom. When he gets through the door he dislodges me and tosses me onto the bed where I bounce and ignore the jarring in my neck, the room smells musty from disuse and I want to open a window but Tyler grabs an ankle and drags me back across the bed towards him, he rests my ankle on his shoulder as he unbuttons his jeans and kicks off his boots. I smile and adjust so that my muscles don't tear when he bends to grab my shoulders and pulls me back up to kiss him. I run my tongue against his and stroke his face while trying to shrug my dress off my body and get his shirt off at the same time. He removes my hand and does it for me, dropping his clothes to the floor and I see that he's been working out since we saw each other last,

I giggle, "You look like a body builder" I tease and he flexes his muscles, "This? This is sexy!"

I shake my head teasingly, "No"

"Yes"

"No, no, no…ah!" I squeal as he yanks my dress down my body and I hear fabric tear, I wince,

"Tyler Lockwood, you better not have damaged that dress!"

He shrugs, "I'll buy you a new one babe"

"It was vintage!"

He reaches down and snaps the elastic on my lace panties, "So are these, pretty sure you were wearing them the first time we had sex"

I flash him a smile and ease them off my body, "Maybe they're my favourite?"

He laughs and settles me back against the pillows and hovers above me, "I can think of something else that's your favourite…"

Then his hands are on my breasts and fondling my vagina, playing with my clit and searching for my g-spot. I'm moaning his name again and again, barely able to think straight after such a long dry spell.

He freezes for a second and I wonder if the dry spell means that we're going to have to vary from our normal routine but he rears above me and using a hand for guidance slams into me with such force my hips lift off the bed. I scream his name and struggle to keep up with the pace he's setting, gripping his waist with my hands and crying out as a rough orgasm crashes down on me, he flips me over onto my stomach and lifts my ass into the air, I call his name and reach for him as he enters me again. Relief flooding me when I realise that he isn't after anal sex. This new position hits my g-spot again and I feel another orgasm building so I slip my hand down and thumb my clit.

This time he comes before I do and I use my hand to finish myself. Sweaty and exhausted, he collapses on top of me and I turn my head to the side so I can breathe,

"That feels surprisingly good" I tell him, even as his weight is crushing me,

"I'll move when I remember how legs work" he promises and I laugh, using my vampire strength I roll underneath him and cradle him against me, burying my face in his neck.

"I missed you so much" I weep, "I love you Tyler"

He runs his hands over me and pushes my curls out of the way, "I know you do Care"

We fall asleep in that position.

I wake up alone.

* * *

My stomach churns and my skin goes clammy as for one horrifying moment I think that Silas must have once again messed with my mind.

If he raped me as Tyler I'll kill him.

I feel sick and scared but unlike a year ago when I would have felt terrified and weak, I know now that if my enemies ever do succeed in killing me, Klaus will avenge my death and tear the world to shreds to find a way to bring me back.

That knowledge can make me tremble with fear on a good day and dizzy with relief on a bad day.

But it's enough to give me the strength to climb out of bed, throw on my dress and head downstairs where I can hear movement in the kitchen.

I cross my arms over my chest as my feet register the chill of the tiles and it's an odd sensation because as a vampire I can only feel cold weather, if I step on something cold or I run my hand under hot water my body registers the temperature in that area but that's all it does.

I guess that's why our daylight rings are such a privilege, the warmth of sunlight on our skin is a luxury we truly learn to appreciate once we are dead.  
I find Tyler in the kitchen drinking vodka from the freezer, there's been leftover alcohol in there for months I just hadn't got around to clearing it out yet.

"You wouldn't rather a beer?" I tease, padding over to him and kissing his shoulder as I brush past to rustle up some food from the pantry.

There's a few packs of unopened chips left over from the prom after party and I hoist myself up onto the counter and begin eating while Tyler continues to drink in complete silence.

"So…" I swallow and swing my feet, "Do you want me to catch you up on everything you missed now or do you want to wait until we get to the Boarding House? We kind of left Elena and Damon in the lurch with Stefan…which is something I should probably tell you about right away…see it turns out Silas wasn't in the…wow" I shake my head when I realise just how out of the loop my boyfriend is going to be, "Okay, plan B…I'll give you the bullet points and we can elaborate as we…"

"Care" Tyler interrupts and I finally force myself to acknowledge just how rigidly he's holding himself, "Did you have sex with Klaus?"

I knew it.

A part of me knew he was going to ask this question, despite our love for one another, despite me promising that I wouldn't forget him and despite me crying my eyes out when he left I've watched enough movies to know that this is something he would have to ask me.

But it still hurts that he did.

And I wish he hadn't asked it so soon.

I set the chips aside and go stand next to him, "I didn't sleep with Klaus" I promise, "I didn't have sex with him, I didn't make-out with him…I didn't even kiss him!"

That last part isn't even a lie. Klaus kissed me and I may have kissed him, caressed him and spread my legs for him numerous times in the darkest corners of my mind but physically I remain faithful to Tyler.

And that's what counts.

But he throws back his drink and slams the bottle down on the counter and I already know he doesn't believe me. And that hurts even more.

"Caroline" Tyler sighed and cupped my face in his hands, "I can forgive you for anything but I just need to know _what_ I have to forgive"

I smack his hands away, "I was faithful to you Tyler" I shout, upset that after everything we went through that he doesn't trust me. This is what caused him so much trouble in the first place, if he would just listen to me instead of his werewolf buddies…

"You called _his_ name Care!" he shouts, interrupting my train of thought, I shake my head in confusion and disbelief,

"You're angry with me because I mentioned his name while I was asleep?"

He laughs with a bitterness that reminds me of his trophy wife mom,

"No…I'm not angry because you said his name in your sleep"

I stamp my foot, "Then what's the problem?"

"When we were having sex, you called his name in between saying mine"

_Fuck_.

"Freudian slip" I answer as quickly as the term comes to mind. It happens, people accidentally use the wrong word or call someone by the wrong name, it's not my fault if my brain temporarily malfunctioned.

Which is the line I'm going with until this entire Mystic Falls debacle is fixed and I have a spare hour to reflect and figure out _what_ exactly my subconscious was thinking.

Tyler doesn't buy my excuse. He walks out of the kitchen, leaving me to chase him into the office where he sits behind the desk and I find myself standing in front of it like the naughty schoolgirl he used to beg me to role play.

I take a breath and try again, "Tyler…I'm sorry, it's been a hell of a long summer and before that was the graduation debacle and I barely made it to prom alive…"

"And how do you think I felt Care?!" he shouts at me from across the desk, "Huh? How do you think I felt running scared for my life and unable to protect myself let alone the people I loved! Klaus drowned my mother in a fountain on a drunken whim, killed my pack and he got to stay here in my town and see my girlfriend every day while I was hiding in the goddamn boondocks!"

Well it wasn't exactly a picnic having a family of murderous Originals and the psychotic Silas in the same zip code and fighting to stay strong when every last one of my friends struggled to keep their heads above water.

And I'm not the reason you were chased out of town Tyler. If you had just listened to me once instead of your 'pack'…if you had trusted me over the hybrids you allowed to get away with torturing me…

I don't say any of these things.

I can't.

It would destroy him for me to show how little faith I have in him.

"I missed you every day" I confess, wiping the tears from my eyes, "God, when you first left I called your cell phone like three times a day just to hear your voice on the answering message and pretend that I was talking to you so that when you got back…it'd be like you'd never left"

He smiles at my sentimentality and for a moment I think we're going to be okay but he starts shuffling through the mail that Matt collected every day and sorted into piles for him. I know a dismissive gesture when I see one and I clench my fists and resist the urge to grab a blood bag from the fridge.

I'm focusing so much on controlling my temper that at first I don't hear what my boyfriend says to me,

"_Sorry what_?..."

He gives an exasperated sigh, as if talking to me is the hardest thing in the world for him,

"I said, that the only reason I knew it was safe to come back to Mystic Falls is because Klaus had some vampires track me down and tell me. Apparently my return was a 'gift' to you?"

God.

It just figures that it's one of Klaus' few acts of goodwill and sacrifice which causes Tyler and me to fight when all his attempts to seduce me systematically failed.

"For graduation," I confess, "Klaus wanted to give me something I would truly enjoy, something I would truly love" I round the desk and perch myself on my boyfriend's lap, "He knew how happy having you back would make me, he knew that you were my first real love Ty"

I kiss him again, pressing my lips against his hopefully but even as he runs his hands up and down my sides and shifts me closer to him the kiss feels wrong somehow, as if I'm the only one there.

I wrap my arms around his shoulders and adjust so that I'm straddling him, I'm not wearing my underwear and I despite lingering soreness from our last session, I rub my body against his.

I held out hope for so long. I waited for him for so long.

But when he breaks the kiss I realise that I'm not getting him back.

"What d'you mean I'm your _'first_ _love'_?" he asks, unable to let it go.

Unable to let Klaus have a single triumph over him, obsessing over every little thing until he drives everyone away and all Klaus has to do is sit back and watch.

I want to lie to him. I want to lie to Tyler about what happened at graduation, I want to pretend we can go back to last summer when we were so attracted to one another and couldn't stop smiling whenever we spoke.

But I also want my boyfriend to finally see me as something _more_ than the Cheer Captain and Miss Mystic Falls. I want Tyler to understand that while everyone else was plotting to violently overthrow Klaus and then reeling with shock whenever the millennium old Hybrid- who was friends with Machiavelli for Pete's sake- was two steps ahead and already had the retribution set up. I want people to finally notice that the only times Klaus was ever merciful or reasonable was when I approached him as human being. He'd spent so long being seen as a monster and running from his father that he was starved for affection and mainstream monotony, one of the reasons he was attracted to me was because I offered a life in a small community where you had to be present on a day-to-day basis, you couldn't ignore a decade passing like the older vampires did.

I wasn't the perfect Klaus bait because I'm a hot c-cup blonde, I was the perfect Klaus bait because he and I saw past each other's looks and found an understanding of one another.

I want Tyler to see that I'm not the bouncy girl with the epic self-esteem issues that died in a hospital bed, I'm not the transitioning baby vamp who compelled a nurse to tell people that she was a sexual deviant or got horny over the slightest things.

I'm a capable young woman, intelligent and the only one who could bargain with Klaus and survive.

I tell myself that I want everyone to see this.

Truthfully, I'll figure out later that I also wanted to be seen as important and valuable to the group who constantly shelved my issues because we had much larger ones to deal with.

"He told me that you were my first love and that he intended to be my last" I confess, trying to figure out the best way to brace myself in case Tyler throws me off his lap.

"However long it takes"

For a minute or two I don't get a response and the wait is worse than the outcome, although maybe my boyfriend is understanding just how easily I could have left him for Klaus and is trying to backpedal to win me back.

"Are you _freaking_ kidding me?!"

Or not.

"So you're telling me that even if I win now he'll one-up me in the end?"

Win?

"This isn't a poker game Tyler" I snap, jumping off his lap and quivering with rage, "I am not some prize to be won, I'm not something you can barter or bargain with, I am a human being and love is not a game"

He growls, "Are you sure? Because it sure looks like you and he have stacked the decks so that you both win either way"

I am so shocked that he would think me capable of that, that he thinks I would willingly string Klaus along when every time I did so was because I was ordered to by him or the Salvatores. That I would have another man lined up and waiting for our relationship to end.

My feelings for Klaus are conflicted. My body, heart and mind have ripped themselves to shreds on numerous occasions trying to figure out what I want.

But at the end of the day. I was physically faithful to Tyler and as emotionally loyal to his memory as I could be.

"If I had _won_ Tyler" I spit between clenched teeth, "I would be in New Orleans right now being loved and treated like an intelligent, grown woman. I wouldn't have been spent the summer in Mystic Falls miserable and going crazy out my mind wishing you were here with me"

I storm upstairs and throw on my clothes before flashing out of the house. I contemplate going home and showering but the thought of being alone right now…

It would serve Tyler right if I were to call Klaus right now, if I were to talk to him about my thoughts and feelings. If I were to suggest a purely platonic trip to New Orleans when we'd all know that the second I set foot in LA he'd be on a mission to seduce me.

The thought of him holding me close and whispering in my ear.

No. I shake my head, I can't do that to Tyler, Klaus or myself, it'd be childish and petty and I'm an adult who's about to start her first year of college.

* * *

And I probably look like a college student when I stagger through the back door of the Salvatore Boarding house barefoot with a torn dress and sex hair. I call out to see if anyone's home and Jeremy darts into the kitchen with a look of relief on his face.

"I've been calling you for _ages_" he accuses and I shrug as I grab a blood bag from the fridge,

"I was busy with Tyler" I say, pouring the blood into a mug and drinking deep.

"Gross" he complains reminding me of the ten year old boy I used to chase around the Gilbert house threatening with kisses and cooties.

"Well come into the parlour" he orders, walking away without another word. I roll my eyes but follow him to see that Matt, Elena and Damon are there as well.

"How's Stefan?" I ask quietly, feeling guilty for abandoning one of my best friends, Elena chews her lip, "He's sleeping for the moment, but Damon and I want to move him downstairs tonight"

"How's Tyler?" Matt grins, clearly happy that one of his best friends is back. I give him a tight smile in return, hoping I'll get at least the rest of the day before my boyfriend starts running around town looking for a scarlet A to slap on my chest.

At Jeremy's insistence we all sit down. Well, Matt, Elena and I do. Damon takes his usual spot by the wet bar and makes a snide comment about handing the floor to Jeremy.

Jeremy doesn't sit down across from us but stands on the carpet and scratches the back of his neck nervously, he opens his mouth a couple of times to speak but obviously can't find the words.

"Any day now Gilbert" Damon drawls impatiently, refilling his drink,

"Damon" Elena scolds him in what must almost be a reflex these days.

Boyfriend opens mouth. Lecture boyfriend for insulting everything in the vicinity.

"What? It's not like we don't have a million other problems to take care of" he points out, "Between Silas out there, Stefan in here, Mayor Hopkins and the ridiculous supply of vervein that he got from god knows where. We're stretched to breaking point and we need to start dealing with the issues now"

"Alright Damon" Jeremy snaps, "I'll talk but can you just shut up for five minutes please?"

I grin at Jeremy's strength. Damon can be pretty intimidating even when he's not trying to be, it can take a lot of courage to stand up to him even when you don't know that he's a powerful vampire.

"Okay" he breathes, "Elena, Caroline…Bonnie's not coming back to town"

Elena huffs in confusion, "Uh Jer, she's gonna have to come back at some point…all her stuff is here, not to mention her dad and her boy-…friends" she finishes lamely, like me completely unsure where our best friend left her relationship with Elena's little brother. After all, she hasn't replied to any of our calls and her emails and texts have all been pretty vague about what she's up to. And it's not like her dad has told us anything, whenever we see him he just glares at all of us and storms off, honestly it's like he…

Oh. My. God.

"Did you get Bonnie _pregnant_?" I shriek, connecting the dots in my head. That would explain why Jeremy's the only one who's been able to contact her on the phone, why he's been feeding us stories about her moving from city to city and thus unable to come visit.

"Wait, what?" Elena screams horrified, "Jeremy you didn't!"

Matt is laughing with shock and trying to control himself, "Dude, I told you to come to me if you needed emergency condoms"

Jeremy looks like a deer in the headlights and Damon is glaring daggers at him.

"Bonnie isn't pregnant" he moans feebly and he might as well fess up now because I'm itching for a legal pad and pen to start figuring out how the hell Bonnie is going to handle college and a baby with Jeremy still in school.

Elena's head is in her hands and she's looking devastated, "Jer…seriously…you and she have your whole lives ahead of you" she looks up at him with watery eyes, "She's not _keeping_ it is she?"

Wow.

Elena Gilbert can be cold when she's family orientated but even for her that statement was harsh. Damon even seems a little stunned but Jeremy gets our attention for managing to look both outraged and pitying.

"Guys, I didn't knock up Bonnie…I said she's not coming back to town because she never left…when she lowered the Veil she spent a lot of energy and between that and fighting off Silas…"

No.

_No. no. no. no. no._

The tears are pouring from my eyes before he's even finished because my mind connected the dots correctly this time when he said that she'd never even left town.

Beside me Elena is shaking her head and I jump when Damon smashes his glass into the fireplace and then tosses over the wet bar. Matt is asking questions, still not completely understanding and when Jeremy finally says those three words I find myself sobbing so hard my stomach hurts.

Elena has fallen to the floor and is hyperventilating, digging her nails into the wood and calling for Damon. I see him picking up a paperweight and I'm on my feet asking him to stop only a second before he hurls it through the stained glass window. But when that is done he stumbles to Elena and falls on her, pulling her into an embrace as she begs him to make the pain go away.

Jeremy doesn't know what to do, he is hugging Matt but looking to his sister as he reaches across and holds my hand. I hear my voice calling words or shouting something but I can't be sure what I'm saying, or if I'm even speaking English.

My stomach heaves again and I blur to the upstairs bathroom just before I vomit up the blood in my body. When I'm empty I curl myself into a little ball and lie on the tiled floor, shaking so hard that my teeth chatter. I'm still crying and I don't think I'll ever stop.

My best friend.

My sister.

I lose track of time, I only register that it is passing by the rise and fall of Elena's keening.

When that stops so does time and I don't care. I don't care if tomorrow never comes. I don't care if I spend the rest of my life on this floor. I don't care if I never see anybody again.

In fact I don't want to. I want to lock the bathroom door and live out the rest of my days on this tiled floor with the fluffy towel that hangs on the rail and brushes my hip.

* * *

But I'm not allowed even this small mercy so eventually the door opens and a pair of black boots walk into my vision, followed by designer jeans and a hand that lands on my curls and pats them awkwardly,

"Is Elena okay?" I ask numbly and I feel the air movement of him shaking his head,

"She's cried herself unconscious"

I snort, "Lucky her"

"How's Matt?"

"He's crying…trying to be a man about it and crying in his truck, Jeremy's with him"

"How's…"

"He's had all summer to mourn…he's fine"

The callousness in his voice rouses me enough to lift my head. Jeremy Gilbert isn't fine, he can't be, none of us are ever gone to be fine ever again. This pain will kill us all and the only thing left to do is hope it will happen quickly.

I tilt my head enough so that I can see Damon. He's eyes are shining but that's it, his face is tight and his voice is rough but he's holding it together. He's staying strong as the rest of us go to pieces and is making sure we're all right.

This is why he's the leader of our group.

He pushes the hair out of my face and looks me in the eyes, "You can't switch your humanity off Caroline," he warns me, "You…there's nothing left to bring you back for"

"I still have my mom" I point out, "I'm the only one left who does"

I'm the only one left with a parent to see me attend college and marry, the only one left with a parent to call and buy Christmas presents for.

I begin a fresh round of tears and he shifts, sitting against the wall and pulling me across his lap, I rest my head on his leg and stare at his boots.

"When will it end Damon?" I ask him quietly, "When will we have finally earned our right to live in peace?"

He shakes his head, "I don't know"

I whimper, "She was my sister"

"I know"

He's using one hand to stroke my hair and the other to clench so tightly into a fist that his bones are at breaking point.

"What are we going to do?" I ask. He's older than me, he's an adult. I need him to tell me what we're going to do because I can't see past the blue denim and black boot.

"I don't know"

"Can't we just give up?" I suggest, I'm completely, utterly, everlastingly exhausted. "Can't we just give Silas whatever he wants and if he kills us…fine"

A short laugh escapes his lips, "If we did that, he'd lower the Veil and unleash hell on earth, the world would burn"

"I don't care" I sit up so he can look me in the eye and see my determination, "Damon I'm serious, I don't _care_ anymore, we've been fighting to save the world for the last two years. We've fought witches, warlocks, vampires, hybrids, werewolves, hunters and for a while we even held our own against Silas but I'm _done_. We're not soldiers Damon, you and Stefan are the only ones with any sort of training, the rest of us were dragged into this as teenagers. This shouldn't be our battle, we've lost so much, let someone else save the earth for once, let that fall on someone else's shoulders. Let's just pack everyone up tonight, find a small island and wait a decade or two for everything to blow over"

He wants to agree with me, I can see it in his blue eyes, he's already half-forming a plan in his mind. He's already figuring out which corner of the earth we could hide in, somewhere we're we'd fit in, where the six of us could live together or at least close enough without drawing attention and where we could feed without raising suspicion.

But he won't walk away from this mess. He'll want to see it finished as much I will. We can't hide and allow someone else to take the fall for us, we wouldn't be the people we are if we did. He wouldn't be the man Alaric eventually forgave for Isobel and grew to love like a brother. He wouldn't be the man Elena adored all the more because she thought that she was the only one who ever got glimpses of his true nature. And me?

I wouldn't be the girl that Stefan trusted to keep him from going Ripper. I wouldn't be the friend that Elena and Bonnie needed every time they fell apart, the one that built them back up again. I wouldn't be the girl who'd captured the heart of an Original.

Still it's nice to imagine for a moment that we could run.

When that moment finishes Damon picks me up and carries me to his room where Elena is curled up on the bed with a shiny new teddy bear that I know he spent hours in a mall looking in every available store for. He lays me on the duvet and I curl up against my one remaining sister, she holds my arm over her stomach and we clutch each other seeking comfort and safety in a world that has none left.

Elena goes back to sleep. I'm honestly not surprised, this is a girl who's dealt with death so often she fits it into her schedule and keeps going on with her life. She went to a party one night and the next day woke up with no parents. In one month she lost her biological mother, father and her aunt. Then six months later she lost Alaric and then Jeremy.

I suppose that's why she's so determined to see the good in people and bring them into her circle of love and friendship, if she didn't compulsively adopt everyone into her makeshift extended family she wouldn't have any family to speak of.

I lie there and hold her, allowing myself to become as numb as possible without switching off my humanity. The world outside goes dark but I don't turn on the lights.

I hear Damon moving around downstairs and Matt knocks lightly on the open door before sticking his head in.

He and Bonnie were Prom King and Queen.

I start crying again and I wake Elena who takes the chance to try and comfort me, rolling over and hugging me from behind, crawling on me like a koala clinging to its mother.

Matt has no idea what to do. He comes forward and kneels beside the bed, dropping something that clutters to the floor. I reach down to grab it for him and my fingers close around his phone.

He holds his hand out for it but I don't return it right away, I put it in my lap and stare at it, half an idea forming in my mind and my fingers are tapping the screen before I've even finished the thought.

* * *

It rings eight times before he answers and when he does I can hear the irritation in his voice.

"Who is this?"

It's enough to make me stutter and wonder if I've taken too long and he's moved on, despite his promise to wait.

"K-…k-Klaus?"

"Caroline?"

He says my name with such joyful reverence and tender concern that I'm momentarily distracted before I see Matt's red eyes and remember that my best friend since childhood is dead.

"Sweetheart can you tell me what's wrong?"

Everything. Everything is wrong, the whole world is falling down around me and I should want Tyler here with me but I want _you_. I start crying again and Elena kisses my shoulder and rests her face on my back.

"Tell me where you are my love" he begs me, clearly worried that I'm being held hostage or I'm in life threatening danger.

Well, more so than usual.

"Give me a word or a location and I promise I will come…"

"Dead" I try to explain but I'm barely coherent. I can hear him moving, there's traffic noises and jazz music fading into the distance.

He growls and immediately goes into Hybrid alpha mode  
"If they're threatening you, give the phone to them and I will…"

"No" I interrupt before he can decide how to brutally torture and murder my non-existent hostage taker, "Not me…Klaus…Bonnie's dead"

There's a pause on his end of the line and I hate him in that moment because I know he's relieved that I'm not the one in danger.

"I'm so sorry love"

He is sorry. He's sorry that I'm upset but his heart isn't being ripped out of his chest and his world isn't destroyed. Bonnie was nothing more than an acquaintance and sometime nuisance or hindrance to his plans. A handy powerful witch on call whom he could blackmail into serving him but that's it.

"She's my sister Klaus" I explain to try and make him understand "…she _can't_ be gone…she can't just not be _here_…"

I'm barely breathing and he murmuring words to try and soothe me, sweet nothings that mean less than nothing because I don't need words I need actions.

"Klaus please…you have to come back"

The words are out of my mouth before I even realise but the second they are I realise how much I need him.

"You have to come back and fix it…please I'll do anything…just come back"

There's someone else on the other end whispering to Klaus and I've lost his attention,

"Sweetheart I need an hour" he tells me when he comes back, "Can you give me an hour to see what I can do and then I'll call you back?"

I shake my head, "Please Klaus…please come back, I'll do _anything_ you want, _everything_ you want please…"

"Caroline" his voice is strong and commanding, "I'm going to hang up now and concentrate all my resources on finding a solution and I will call you back in fifty-nine minutes and thirty six seconds exactly. I promise you"

"Klaus" I whimper his name as my final plea and receive a dial tone in response. I sob and hand the phone back to Matt who watched me the entire time and just now remember that there are two people in the room who just heard me hand my life and heart over to their enemy.

Matt looks exceptionally troubled and mutters something about going to check on Damon and Jeremy. Elena doesn't even move but continues resting her face against my back, her legs against mine and her hands around my stomach,

"I'm sorry" I tell her, embarrassed that she heard the conversation between me and her aunt's killer, I can feel her shrug,

"If he finds us a way out of this mess, I'll get down on my knees and kiss his shoe myself"

I laugh and lay us both back down on the bed and settle in for the wait. Damon comes in ten minutes later, gets debriefed by us and tells us that we're eaten dinner after Klaus has called back. I'm not sure if he means actual food or blood but if he wants to drag us kicking and screaming back into our routines asap I'm not going to stop him. Elena and I lay side by side, staring up at the ceiling and not bothering to talk.

Fifty-nine minutes and thirty-five seconds later Matt comes back into the room holding the phone and arguing with Klaus, "Look man it's my phone she handed it back to me out of sheer habit…because I didn't think to tell her to keep it…we're in the same damn house it has taken me thirty seconds tops to reach her…well you know what…_fuck you, you uptight bastard_…yeah you heard me"

I take the phone from him and for the first time since Jeremy broke the news to us I have half a genuine smile on my face. "We've all just lost our best friend" I point out to Klaus as I put the phone to my ear,

"We're all hurting"

"I'm aware of that love, I'm willing to ignore Matthew's outburst, besides- I can only assume he's under my sister's protection as payment for goods and services rendered"

I frown in confusion but decide to let that statement go. I hold the phone to my ear and can hear lots of noise on the other end, several people talking at once and other phones and machines beeping. It sounds chaotic,

"Klaus" I whisper cautiously, "Are you…?"

"I've called in favours from every corner of this landmass love. I have thirteen witches of every school packing their bags for Mystic Falls and Elijah is singlehandedly reorganising the airspace laws of several countries, including our own to ensure that these witches have planes waiting to take them straight to Virginia. There are buses waiting for them at the airport. I have told them they are to answer to you and obey your orders as if they were mine. With that much power and knowledge there must be a way to lower the Veil for Bonnie and keep her on this side. I also have several vampires who are currently on standby if you wish for their backup with the Silas debacle and several more in case these ones are to die. I have a car being sent to the Boarding house and an entire floor of hotel rooms available in New Orleans if you wish to send human loved ones to safety. They will be under twenty-four hour protection"

Sadness floods through me, "You're not coming are you?"

There's a rustling noise and I figure I've been taken off speaker. "Caroline my love…if I could leave New Orleans I would be by your side before sun-up, I would run to you if I had to…but I can't"

"Are you saying my love isn't worth a kingdom?" I quip, wondering if I should be reasonable or hurt that he wouldn't make such a grand sacrifice and declaration of love for me the moment I give him the time of day.

"If it was only my kingdom that I was giving up I would do so in a heartbeat" he assures me.

I remind myself that I'm no longer an angst ridden teenager and settle for reasonable, he sounds so torn by the fact that he can't get here himself, and he's moving heaven and earth to bring me everything we could possibly need.

"Thank-you" I tell him, climbing off the bed and locking myself in Damon's cupboard so that I can speak to him privately, "I mean it…thank-you for taking my call, thank-you for getting me a baker's dozen witches and thank-you for not deciding that you were over me"

He chuckles, "I told you that I would be your last love, however long it takes…do you really think so little of me as to assume I'd give up after only three months?"

Tyler did.

"Call me if you need anything more Caroline, anything at all"

"Thank-you" I whisper again before terminating the call and stepping into the bedroom to find it empty. I smell food and head downstairs to see Elena setting the table and Damon laying out bowls of pasta, nothing fancy just pesto, spaghetti and white wine but I'm hungry and the fact that any of us are capable of anything at the moment is miraculous.

Jeremy is already sitting down, watching all of us with anxious, guilty eyes. He's tapping his foot nervously on the floor and half rises out of his seat when Elena comes into the room with her plate.

Which she nearly drops on the floor as she lunges for her brother.

The rest of us try to intercede but are unsure whether she's attacking him or hugging him until the last moment when she drags every available inch of him into a mama bear embrace,

"Oh Jer, I am so sorry you had to go through this alone" she sobs, and Damon rolls his eyes,

"No…we are not doing this now, all guilt trips are being delayed or rescheduled until tomorrow…" he looks for his watch, finds only an empty wrist so checks the clock and realises that its one am, it finally hits me how late it is and how tired I am.

"Until I don't know, ten am…sit down all of you and eat"

We don't usually like to obey him without question but for something as simple as dinner, especially when it's the last decent meal we might have time to eat in a while, we'll keep the peace.

I give a basic overview of what Klaus told me but we're all so distracted that I'm pretty sure our War Council has also been delayed until ten am.

"Is Stefan not eating?" Matt asks when we're carrying our plates back to the kitchen and I notice Damon tense, "He's asleep right now" he answers tersely and I wonder how the hell Stefan could possibly…

"You haven't told him" I guess and he nods, "I'll tell him later when he's better, if I told him now he'd probably just ask if she'd drowned"

I let that go but then I realise something and turn to Jeremy, "Her parents don't know do they?"

He shakes his head, "No she asked me not to tell them"

"And they haven't figured out something is _wrong_ by _now_?!" Elena demands outraged,

"Rick used to freak out if we got home an hour or two later than planned but Bonnie is gone the entire summer and _neither_ of her parents is worried?"

Damon sighs, "Elena"

"I know" she runs her hands through her hair, "Ten am today"

"What about Tyler?" Matt asks, washing the plates out of sheer habit acquired from his job at the Grill,

"Care…does he know?"

"Nope…someone will have to tell him and it won't be me…ten am today" I add the last part as several of them open their mouths to question the situation.

Shortly after, we all start getting ready for bed, I suggest I head home but Elena refuses to let me out of her sight or at least her property line until everything has been dealt with. There are several beds available in the house, but the rooms are so cold that I end up knocking on Matt's door after borrowing a shirt from Elena. He answers with a weary grin,

"Right side of the bed or left?" he jokes, his eyes still watering with grief, I shrug, "Like I care at this point"

"Just remember," he begins as we climb into the bed and try to subtly make sure we're a decent distance from one another, "You can have my pillow but let me keep my virginity"

I snort, "Matt if I wanted to find your virginity I'd be talking to Elena right now"

He smirks and turns off the lamp before leaning in to whisper in my ear, "You can't go into their room if the door is closed…trust me…oh and uh…don't touch the wall at the end of the hallway"

I shudder and bury my face in my pillow, "You've scarred me for life Matt"

He snickers, "Yeah? Try seeing your ex-girlfriend being defiled by the town asshole"

I laugh and reach across to hold his hand, "I love you Matt"

He squeezes my fingers, "I know Care I love you too"

We all oversleep and miss our self-appointed ten am deadline.

* * *

Voila.

I shall explain Tyler at some point. Should the next chapter be Stefan, Caroline or Tyler? All three of them are getting their chapter but I'm not sure which one to write next


	7. Chapter 7

A/N- So I decided on Tyler because I'm still trying to bridge crazy Stefan into the story. So pissed off Tyler gets a chapter first.

* * *

Tyler's POV

I realise around one am that Caroline isn't going to call me to talk our issues through or apologise and I finish off my mom's bottle of scotch before heading back to bed to try and get some proper sleep, as opposed to the fake out I threw earlier after hearing my girlfriend come moaning the name of the guy I hate most in the world and not even realising.

But of course I'm not going to sleep because my brain hates me and can't resist replaying the fight we had over and over in my head,

"_He told me that you were my first love and that he intended to be my last"_

"_I would be in New Orleans right now being loved and treated like an intelligent, grown woman" _

She had to have known. She had to have known how much it would hurt me, hearing her confession that Klaus had already reserved his place in her future and that she hadn't even made a token protest.

This man murdered my mother, he killed my pack and chased me out of town. And she allowed him into my home for the prom after party and slapped me in the face with the fact that she has an open invitation to New Orleans. Which I assume is where he's living now.

When my brain gets tired torturing me with the rehash of our fight I go to sleep with the imagery of Caroline and Klaus together in the Big Easy, 'together' in every sense of the word.

I can see her naked on silk sheets and crying out in pleasure as he fucks her. I can see him smiling with triumph when she comes. I see her on her knees giving him a blow job and I see them cuddling together afterwards, with their blonde hair and blue eyes, looking perfect together as Caroline regrets wasting her time with me.

My nightmares keep me restless enough that I barely sleep and when all my calls to Caroline are ignored I decide to give up and walk to her house the next morning, knocking on the door and hoping that she's in her 'Fix-it' mood as opposed to her 'Watch romantic movies and wish Tyler wasn't a jackass' mood.

But apparently I'm not going to get Sheriff Forbes answers the door, looking almost unrecognisable out of uniform and so surprised to see me that I figure she hasn't seen Caroline since we fought,

"Tyler?!"

I smile, "Hi Sheriff"

Caroline's mom never really liked me. I'd got into a lot of trouble back when my dad was still alive and he'd used his power as Mayor to bail me out enough times for her to write me off as an over-privileged douche. It didn't help that my mom had helped Caroline's dad kidnap and torture her, or that she'd looked down on Caroline as an airheaded socialite in training.

She blinked and ran her eyes over me, "I…didn't know you were back"

I offer her a smile and shrug, "I got back yesterday…I'm keeping it quiet for the moment," I pause awkwardly and shift my feet waiting for the invitation to come inside, I don't technically need one because Caroline invited me in after Klaus made me a hybrid but still…it's polite to wait.

Sheriff Forbes doesn't budge an inch, "Caroline's not here" she tells me, "And I'm sorry but I don't know that you're not Silas so I'm not inviting you in"

I blink and lean back in surprise. Silas must be causing trouble if Caroline's told her mom to be extra-cautious. Usually we only tell our parents to be careful if we think the situation is _really_ bad.

"Well…I can't exactly say I'm not Silas because that's probably something he would say" I joke,

"But…uh…I'll go look for Caroline…I guess I'll see you later"

"I'm glad your back" she offers in farewell, beginning to close the door, "She's missed you"

Yeah, but apparently not enough to take my calls.

She might be in 'Avoid Tyler' mood but the town isn't that big and considering that Elena's burnt her own house down, which I was able to find out about since the Mystic Falls Journal puts its news online, there's a limited amount of places she'd go.

I was really hoping we'd be able to have this conversation in private, it's hard enough to talk about feelings without Damon Salvatore making snide comments about  
how I'm not good enough for Caroline.

Last I checked, I'm not the one with the history of boning my brother's girlfriends.

Still I begin walking to the Salvatore Boarding House because it's too early for any of the Vampires to be day drinking at the Grill. In a nod to basic decency even Damon usually waits until midday unless there's been a complete clusterfuck of a catastrophe.

And even then he'll only stop off for a drink _after_ burying the bodies.

But when I step into the street and find numerous cars and minibuses parked around the house my internal radar is listing this as a possible three on the Mystic Falls Emergency Richter scale.

It jumps up to a four when I step through the front door and realise that I don't recognise anybody in the immediate vicinity.

It definitely isn't a party and the lack of bite marks suggests that Damon hasn't ordered in a blood binge.

I push my way between two bickering women and slide past a huddled up man only a few years older than me stretching my senses looking for my girlfriend, or really, anyone I recognise at this point.

"Okay listen up people!"

We all turn to see Elena standing on the staircase, her appearance causes a few people to stir and she rolls her eyes,

"For those of you who think you recognise me I. Am. Not. Katherine. Pierce! Or Katerina Petrova, if you don't believe me do a location spell I assure you she is in New Orleans with the Original Elijah, I am her doppelganger but that isn't important, what is important is that you come into the parlour now please"

She spots me and jumps off the stairs heading over in my direction and grabbing my hand,

"Hey Tyler" she pulls me along into the parlour with her, where I see Caroline standing by the fireplace, looking nervous as Damon sits on the couch and the crowd filters in behind us. I feel a breeze and think they've cracked a window open before seeing that there is a large gap where the window is supposed to be. The entire thing has been removed and the heavy curtain isn't keeping out the cold.

Everyone quickly falls silent and for some reason they're looking at my girlfriend as if this is a beauty pageant that she's running,

"Okay" Caroline begins, "Is this all of you?"

She gets a few nods of consent and takes a breath, steeling herself and smiling, "Alright, now as you might have been told, there is a creature in this town called Silas. Two thousand years ago he was human and in love with a woman and asked the witch Qetsiyah who was also in love with him to perform the spell and instead she killed his lover and granted him immortality before she imprisoned him for two thousand years. He's not a vampire…not in the original sense…but drinking blood does make him stronger and he has many of the same powers that vampires do. He's damn near invincible and he was freed a few months back"

This news doesn't go down well and people begin to shift uncomfortably, Caroline holds up her hand,

"However, we're currently at an advantage because Silas only wants to make himself mortal, lower the veil to the Other Side and die so that he can be reunited with his one true love and we want to help him do this so we need all of you here to brainstorm and go over your spell books and see if you can find a way to achieve this"

There's a raised hand and Caroline nods to a middle aged woman dressed like a new age hippie, "Yes?"

"Qetsiyah was the founder of the Bennett line wasn't she? Why aren't the Bennett witches taking care of this matter?"

I look over my shoulder to see Jeremy leaning against the frame, "Unfortunately Bonnie Bennett was tricked into Expression and died because of it…there aren't any Bennett witches left in town"

I grow cold and turn to Elena who nods sadly.

Bonnie is _dead_?

How? When? Where? Why? What…the fuck?

"Isn't there still Bennett's in Salem?" A man interjects and Damon shakes his head,

"We already had one Bennett witch running around town out of her mind on Expression, we're trying to keep the rest of them away from Silas. Hence the reason Hybrid Klaus summoned you all here"

_Klaus_?!

These people are all here on _Klaus'_ command?

Caroline's eyes meet mine from across the room and I think she can see that I'm about to blow my lid because she tells the witches to brainstorm and asks them to stay in the house as much as possible before grabbing my hand and dragging me to the kitchen where Matt is making an epic amount of coffee.

He gives me a small grin, "Hey man, we've still got some bacon left if you want breakfast…you know comfort food and all"

I stare at him, "You knew Bonnie was dead and you didn't think to tell me yesterday?!"

He frowns in confusion and looks to my girlfriend, "Care?"

She sighs and runs her hands through her hair, I finally notice that she looks terrible, actually come to think of it, nobody in that room looked like they'd got a decent night's sleep and that they'd dressed in a hurry.

"Tyler…we didn't find out that Bonnie was dead until yesterday afternoon after you and I fought and then we were in shock and grieving and then I was on the phone to Klaus and he was organising an army of witches and vampires to help with Silas and…"

"Are you _freaking_ kidding me Caroline?" I shout, my voice reverberating through the kitchen,

"You can't come tell your boyfriend that his friend is dead but you can call Klaus and move three dozen people to Mystic Falls in the space of a _few hours_?"

"There a problem in here?"

I look over my shoulder to see Damon in the doorway watching me with barely concealed disdain, Caroline sighs, "Its fine, really"

"Don't you have your brother's girlfriend to be obsessing over?" I taunt, taking pleasure in seeing his eyes flash with fury before he gave me his cruellest grin,

"In case you're wondering, Caroline called Klaus instead of you because he is actually of use to us in this situation, you're just the guy that got his friends killed and then bailed when shit got too real for you"

Man if I hear that fucking Hybrid's name one more time today.

Matt grabs my shoulder as I open my mouth to pick a fight with someone, I'm not entirely sure who.

"Come on man" he says, pushing me from the kitchen, "I have to go to Bonnie's house anyway"

I don't want to leave, I want to stay here and have things out with Caroline. I want her to apologise and admit that it's wrong of her to keep Klaus in her life. She needs to cut him out entirely so that he's left abandoned and rejected, exiled from her presence while I spend every night holding her warm body in my arms.

Triumphant.

But Caroline is already strategizing with Damon, Elena and Jeremy before Matt and I are even out of the house.

She doesn't even say goodbye or promise to speak to me later as we climb into the car and pull out onto the street driving away from her.

I've spent so much time driving away from Caroline that even when I'm with her I no longer recognise myself as being home.

And I don't recognise the girl who runs to Klaus instead of away from him.

* * *

I sigh and stare at the scenery we pass by.

You never realise how much you appreciate your home until you leave it and believe that it might be years before you can go back.

I had thought that I wouldn't see Mystic Falls again this century; that I would be forced to spend my life running until Klaus got bored hunting me or my friends in Mystic Falls found a way to cure and kill him.

When three vampires found me in that trailer park in the boondocks, in a town so small it didn't even have a supermarket I assumed I was done for.

Instead they gave me the news I hadn't even believed possible.

'Klaus is letting you return to Mystic Falls. You can thank Caroline for this, your liberty is her gift"

Caroline thinks I'm treating her like a possession but _I'm_ the one whose freedom was bartered for with smiles and flirty promises.

"You okay man?" Matt asks quietly as we drive through the centre of town and I shrug, not really wanting to tell Matt that I'm having issues with his ex-girlfriend's fidelity. She and I hooked up way too soon after they broke up.

"Yeah, just…thinking about Bonnie"

I haven't really had time to process her death. I still can't believe that she is actually dead, surely they're mistaken and she's going to come back?

My best friend gets teary and nods, "Yeah…Ty I'm sorry…I…we should have called you but when Jeremy told us yesterday- we all just lost it and couldn't think straight"

Wait.

_Jeremy_ told them?

"Have you uh…" I scratch the back of my neck and notice that we're pulling into Bonnie's street,

"Have you seen the body yet?"

Matt gives me an odd look but shakes his head, "No uh…I think Jere has it buried somewhere"

So Bonnie might not _actually_ be dead.

I mean Elena and Jeremy are my friends- kind of, but honesty isn't exactly the Gilbert policy. I've seen those two lie through their teeth to anyone and everyone and they're good at it too.

Of course they would have to be to get away scot free with their infidelities.

Elijah.

Damon.

Anna.

Maybe that's where Caroline's getting it from. Elena's bad influence rubbing off on her.

"Okay…so Mayor Hopkins is at a town meeting all day to discuss new security measures for the school and teenage hangouts" Matt explains as we climb out of the car, "Now, I'm not sure whether you'll be able to get into the house, but can you keep a lookout while I get inside and grab Bonnie's spell books?"

I nod, "Sure"

He grins and pulls his keys from his pocket, "Turns out Caroline has a key to all our houses, convenient huh?"

Not really considering that Matt is probably the only person left in our group that has to fear burglary but I don't say anything as he lets himself in the back. I just sit on the front porch like a guy waiting for his friend to come home and watch the empty street. Its summer and there should be kids playing with sprinklers on the front lawn but I guess they're all inside on their computers.

When I was a kid I'd take my bike and ride around town, buying ice-creams and showing off my latest and coolest toys to the other kids who couldn't afford them.

Then I'd go home and my dad would show me off to his friends. The Mayor's son and mom would spoil me in front of the socialites.

I miss those simple days.

And that's something I have over Klaus.

He might be rolling in wealth now but I know he grew up as a peasant, beaten, starved, neglected and just generally unloved and unwanted by his parents. If we'd been children together, he would have been the worst child in the crowd, the one with the most worn clothes, the least friends because nobody wants to hang out with the poor kid, no new toys to play with and no reason to expect any. He would have seen my six speed bike and shiny black helmet with flames and known that he'd never own something that awesome.

This gives me a small sense of satisfaction as Matt staggers out the front door with three plastic backs filled with old books, "Here man" he grunts, dropping them,

"Take those to the truck, I'll grab the rest"

The books are heavy and already the plastic is beginning to tear, I toss them on the back seat as Matt comes out with another three bags and locks up the house.

With our breaking and entering down for the day, I get back in the car but we don't immediately drive off. Instead my best friend turns to me and I figure we're about to have a heart-to-heart,

"Look Ty, I know you're unhappy about Caroline calling Klaus but he was able to help in this situation…you haven't seen what Silas is capable of or what happens when he's around…we _barely_ survived the last time and now…now it's possible that we have a fighting chance"

I roll my eyes, "It's not the logic I have issues with Matt…it's the fact that Caroline needed help and her first thought was not to speak to me but to go to Klaus and I have just got back to town and she's practically given him a written invitation to come back home"

"Uh…" Matt falters and starts the car as a delaying tactic, making it back to the main roads before he finds his voice,

"Uh…I don't think you have to worry about Klaus coming back to town…he…uh…he has other issues to be dealing with"

_What?_

I frown, "What other issues?"

Matt looks uncomfortable and I figure out that he knows something, he has a secret and I'm the first person he's sharing it with.

"Matty" I call him by his old nickname, "Come on, you have to tell me now"

He flashes me a guilty grin that reminds me of Caroline whenever she has juicy gossip that she just has to share with someone,

"Okay man…but you can't tell anyone yet because I don't think its common knowledge, I mean…I only know because Rebekah told me and this probably isn't something they want to broadcast, you know?"

Wow.

Who knew Matt's ability to pull women might finally be an advantage?

"Okay, my lips are sealed" I promise, "Now spill"

"Okay" he sighs and stops at a red light, "So you remember your werewolf friend Hayley? She was in town for a little while, but you said that the two of you weren't really that close?"

Yeah because I had a jealous girlfriend to contend with and then she stabbed me in the back and told Klaus that I'd unsired his hybrids, which led to the massacre and my mother's death. If I ever see her again I don't know whether I'll scream or kill her.

"Well it turns out that she had a one night stand with Klaus, they got drunk and just decided to sleep together"

Kill. I'll definitely kill her.

"That's the big secret?" I scoff, "Come on man, Caroline could have told you that she was a slut…hell she probably did tell you and everyone who would listen that she was no good"

Matt smirks, "Here's the thing though, it turns out that once his werewolf gene was activated, Klaus was no longer completely dead and as such he's able to procreate with other werewolves"

Wait.

What the _Fuck?!_

"I…" I stutter and feel dizzy, unable to comprehend this knowledge bomb, "Matt, are you telling me what I _think_ you're telling me?"

He pulls the car over and I figure we've either reached our destination or he's worried that I'm gonna throw up all over his dashboard,

"That Klaus has a new born son called Erik with a K?" he finishes, "Rebekah showed me a few photos of the kid…he's actually kind of cute, although they still don't know what the hell he is exactly, at the moment they're saying like ninety percent werewolf"

And one hundred percent vulnerable.

Klaus has a son.

And unlike his screwed up family, the egomaniac will actually love this kid because he totally gets weak at the knees for a chance to create a replica of himself, hence the hybrid obsession.

Klaus has a kid.

And I finally have a way to destroy him.

And Hayley the bitch who betrayed me.

Two evil birds with one vengeful stone.

Once Matt and I get the books inside I sneak away into the forest and open my phone. I can't remember Hayley's number and in our world, phones or simcards have a pretty hefty turnover rate, but her email was ridiculously simple, she'd had the same one since she was thirteen.

hayley_45

I shoot her off a quick email, telling her that I was back in Mystic Falls, that I was safe and hoping she was okay and did she have a number I could call her on?

Almost immediately I get a response telling me that she's gone through some massive life changes, she's still looking for her family but no wolves are talking to her and that she would love to speak to me. She doesn't even hesitate before giving me her cell phone number and telling me to call her whenever.

I remember finding my mother's lifeless body in the fountain and Klaus taunting me about it mere days afterward. I grin and call her straight away, practising my tone so it's the right level of friendly and flirtatious, the same tone that used to drive Caroline wild.

"Hi Hales" I croon when she answers, "Wow it is so good to hear your voice"

Game on Klaus.

* * *

A/N- Do you think I explained Tyler's bitterness well? I can't wait until he comes back to the show and we see whether he's just happy to be back in town or a full of anger after everything he's endured.

Also I think that Nadia- the stranger that comes to Mystic Falls in the first episode of Season five is Katherine's daughter. I have absolutely no proof with which to back this up but I am speculating that this is who she is. If I'm right I shall lord it over all triumphantly, seriously though there is a potential character introduction there.


End file.
